Amitji – Executive Management Trainee
5:30 – Wake up!! Early starts for me :) Working for a City branch means that we open at 8:00am, so I have to be in branch around 15 minutes earlier, technically I could wake up at 6:30 and still reach Moorgate in time, but I’m a bit of a fitness fanatic. I try and cycle 5km every morning before work!
7:45 – In branch now, have a quick look at the previous day’s performance figures, how we are doing with respect to other branches and compared to other days. I then have a quick catch up with the other managers about the plan for the day. A significant amount of time is also spent on discussing how bad each other’s football teams are!
8:00 – 10:00 – One of the best ways to learn about what banking is all about it to start from the grassroots, our customers. The first 2 hours of the day are usually spend on “the pod”, this is where you are the first member of staff to meet and greet customers and cater to their banking needs.
10:00 – 11:00 – Team Meeting time. I like to “check in” with my team, a technique I learned on the Group Graduate Development Programme (GGDP), it gives you a really good insight into how the team are feeling, their ambitions and any concerns they may have. I then discuss the previous day’s performance, what’s going well, what’s not going so well and what we can do to improve activity at the branch. It’s not all serious though, will share a joke or jokes of the day!
11:00 – 12:00 – LUNCH!! Working in the City of London, there are loads of places to eat, but they all seem to be part of the same franchise, I have like 4 Starbucks, 3 Costas, 4 Pods and I believe 3 Wasabis’ within a 10 minute walking distance from my branch. I usually go for Wasabi or Pod, really great places to eat!
12:00 – 14:00 – Coaching Observations, I sit in on customer meetings and take notes on how the meeting went, the customer needs were satisfied etc. I then provide constructive feedback on how to improve customer conversations.
14:00 – 15:00 – Customer contacting. Being a super busy branch we get hundreds of people coming in each day and therefore lots of appointments to book. During this hour I call back customers who have left messages to book appointments for a later day. I can usually get through to around 15 customers in an hour, quality not quantity!
15:00 – 16:00 – Admin time, checking my emails and complete any paperwork that is outstanding. Luckily (or unluckily) I have a work blackberry which is always within arms reach it means that I don’t get too big an email build up. I try and get back on the sales floor again to assist the team and our customers.
16:00 – 17:00 – I am working on a project to improve customer experience in the region with some of the other ETs and MTs so I crack on with that. It usually involves a few conference calls and contacting other branches in the country to share methods of best practice.
17:00 – 18:00 – I allocate some time during the day specifically to my own development, this can include lots of on-line learning, spending time with other HSBC departments or having meetings with my mentors.
18:00 + I wont bore you with too much detail here, once I get home its either FIFA, Pro Evo, Gym, IFS Coursework or a night out!
That’s my “typical” day, as you can see from the activities I undertake no two days will be the same. It would be great to hear back from you in the comments section! All the Best, Amitji.