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Job description: Banker
Banks play a major role in everyone's lives. Part of your job as a Banker is to find ways to keep existing customers and attract new ones.
Keeping them happy is therefore a very important part of your role. You'd have to create and uphold good customer relationships, whilst planning sales strategies and keeping an eye on how well new and existing products are doing.
Your day to day tasks would focus largely on achieving targets. This would come from working with both customers and staff. You'd be in charge of motivating staff, attending meetings, analysing data and figures and keeping up to date with the latest products, market changes and policies.
Depending on whether you work in retail, corporate or commercial banking your responsibilities and work activities will vary. As a Retail Banker, you'll work in a high street branch, dealing with both private and corporate customers, and working in regional or head offices. If you work with commercial or corporate customers, you could be based in branches or work from a specialised area or regional offices.
Your role could involve work as a manager in high street branches, providing operational support on a day-to-day basis. More specialised posts in corporate or commercial departments mean you could be based in regional or head offices.
Hours and environment
Generally, your working hours would be from 9 to 5, but from time to time you could have to work extra. Part-time, flexible working and career break opportunities do exist, should you want it.
Modern offices would generally be your main area of work, though travel would also play a large part in your job. Travel to meetings, conferences and other business events would be likely, so a driving license is helpful.
Due to the high profile nature of the job, you'd have to keep a smart appearance and professional conduct at all times.
Skills and interests
To be a good Banker, you must have:
- excellent interpersonal skills
- leadership qualities
- excellent written and oral communication skills
- analytical skills
- a willingness to relocate
- flexibility and adaptability in responding to change
- creative thinking and an enquiring mind
- enthusiasm and a commitment to further training
Entry
Open to all graduates, you do not need a specific degree to enter the role of a Banker. Employers would be looking for a good honours degree, usually a 2.1 or above. Certain degrees are likely to be preferred, including mathematics, finance, business studies, economics, law and accounting. Without a degree at this level, relevant experience can help your application.
Work experience could involve vacation work, sandwich placements (paid or unpaid), internships and temporary or permanent work experience in a financial, customer-led environment, such as sales. You would need to provide evidence of this, along with a good academic career.
If you're skilled in foreign languages and/or IT, this would work greatly to your advantage with the changing market.
Entry to graduate training schemes is highly competitive, especially for positions with larger banks. Most major high street banks offer management training opportunities on an annual basis.
Training
As a new entrant, there's a variety of training options available to you if you join a graduate training programme. Most of these last for two years. During this time, you would complete a series of work experience placements at branches, regional centres or head offices.
On-the-job training is available in many work places, which would allow you to gain skills through practical experience of a specific role. Courses taken in-house would offer you skills in people management, leadership, time management, customer service, health and safety and security.
Study for appropriate professional qualifications is regarded as an important part of the graduate training and offered by the ifs School of Finance (IFS) and the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (CIOBS).
More specialised training is also available for qualifications for entry to a specific area like human resources, accountancy or computing, or to comply with regulatory requirements. Internal and external training would be given in a variety of ways: work-shadowing experienced colleagues, evening classes, a limited number of day-release courses, distance learning packages and workshops. In-house training is increasingly popular and can provide underpinning competencies. Regular performance reviews would be arranged to assess progress and establish clear objectives for continuing professional development (CPD).
Opportunities
As a trainee you'd be able to move quickly to management positions, often through a 'fast track' route where you can achieve a managerial job at the end of successful training. You could choose to move to a high street branch where you'd manage a particular business area, such as personal loans. Alternatively, you could work in corporate banking or a more specialised role.
Good performance would boost your chances for promotion, especially by meeting your sales/customer targets. It's also important to prove your potential management skills. You could do this by showing how well you can execute responsibilities in specific areas of the bank.
Banks may expect you, once at a managerial position, to relocate to other parts of the UK and occasionally to overseas branches too.
Annual income
Whilst a trainee, you'd earn between £18,000 and £25,000 a year. Following your training, your salary will rise to around £26,00 to £40,000. At regional and Head Office management level, your salary would be anything from £50,000 to £100,000 a year.
Other benefits can include profit-related bonuses, subsidised mortgages, loans, pensions, shares and insurance.
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