Banking customers have a lot of enquiries, and so as a personal banker, it's your job to help them.
So, what will I actually be doing?
Depending on your position and the organisation you work for, you'd be providing a number of services to customers ranging from important advice about their accounts to dealing with a range of complaints to listening, assessing and solving issues.
On call throughout the day, you will be doing a number of tasks that include:
- Selling financial services
- Speaking with customers
- Accessing and updating account details on a computer
- Always trying to meet your targets
With experience, you could begin to specialise in giving mortgage and other financial advice, or supervise a team of staff.
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The nitty gritty
Working full-time, you'd be doing 35 to 40 hours a week. You'd usually work in a large open-plan office, at a work station with a computer and a headset, though one to one meetings with customers is also possible.
With experience, you could progress to become a supervisor or manager dealing with more face to face work. Further qualifications would help to boost your skills and chances of promotion.
You'd get continuous training for new financial products and procedures throughout your career.
Money, money, money
Whilst starting out as a personal banker, your salary would be around £12,000 to £14,000 a year.
And, with experience, this would rise to between £15,000 and £25,000 a year.
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The good points...
Many companies would pay you commission for meeting your sales targets. Other benefits could include profit-related bonuses, subsidised mortgages, loans, pensions, shares and insurance.
...and the bad
Telephone banking is often open late into the evening, and operates six or seven days a week, so evening and weekend shift work is common…not ideal if you’re after the 9-5.
Is there study involved?
You won't always need formal qualifications, but employers will usually ask for a good standard of general education. You may have an advantage with GCSEs including English and maths, or qualifications of a similar level.
You could enter a personal banker role through an apprenticeship scheme. The range of apprenticeships available in your area will depend on the local jobs market and the types of skills employers need from their workers. To find out more about apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk.
You'll be trained on the job once you have started work in a bank. Your in-house training would often include telephone skills, product knowledge and company procedures.
In most cases you'd get the chance to gain work-based qualifications, such as:
- NVQ levels 1 and 2 in Contact Centre Operations
- NVQ levels 2 and 3 in Retail Financial Services
- NVQ levels 2 and 3 in Telesales
- ifs School of Finance Customer Service Professional award
It might be necessary for you to take further specialist training and qualifications to progress into certain specialised areas such as mortgage advice or pensions. This is because you must meet the Financial Services Authority's training and competence standards to work in some areas of financial services.
OK, I'm interested... But is it really the job for me?
Employers look for personal qualities such as confidence, good telephone manner and excellent 'people skills'. Computer skills and experience of customer service or office work is also useful.
