The 15th annual National Apprenticeship Week is celebrated from February 7th – 13th and the UK’s community bank, Metro Bank has been an active supporter of apprenticeships since 2017 with 145 colleagues completing apprenticeship programmes.
Metro Bank is famous for its recruitment ethos – hire for attitude, train for skills and offers a number of apprenticeship schemes.
“Our apprenticeship schemes encourage everyone to consider a career in banking and build a career in the sector,” explains Carol Frost, chief people officer, Metro Bank. “We will be offering more apprenticeships than ever before in 2022.”
Aidan Moore, aged 24, is one of Metro Bank’s commercial banking managers working in the large commercial and specialist sectors team. Aidan joined Metro Bank in July 2015 as an apprentice cashier after finishing his A Levels.
“Before joining I knew very little about banking, other than my experiences as a customer. Working in store, I really learnt a lot from my colleagues and got a solid grounding in the services we offer our customers.”
After completing his apprenticeship, Aidan moved on to become a customer service representative. Aidan was then fast tracked through the local business manager programme which helped prepare him to step up into being a relationship manager. He was then fast tracked through the local director programme, when he was approached about joining the bank’s commercial team.
“As a relationship manager I honed my management skills and this was a great stepping stone to my current role. The learning curve coming into commercial has been steep but the support has been great and I’m really enjoying the challenge.” It wasn’t an easy step, but with the help of those around me and my mentor over the following two years I grew in experience, helping me move into commercial.
“I would encourage anyone to consider an apprenticeship if they want to take on a new role and especially with a company like Metro Bank which places so much emphasis on looking to recruit people based on the raw talent they can see, rather than just what they have previously done.”
Customer services representative, Clarise Chivers aged 25 joined Metro Bank as an apprentice cashier in 2018. “I had no banking experience and wanted to work towards building a career for myself. Once I graduated from the year-long programme I become a cashier, before rapidly being promoted to a CSR role and then an Expert CSR.
“Banking is so much more than I expected. My long term goal is to become an apprentice trainer so I can share my experiences through my personal Metro Bank journey and hopefully inspire new apprentices.”
For more information about apprentice roles at Metro Bank visit https://metrobank.avature.net/amazingcareers/