Entry-level Banking jobs

[BeyonceZ]

Is this a good part-time job to have while in uni?

brilliant, if you can get it!

Yes! My husband moved to the city with me when I started at Uni and got a job in a bank. He had GCSEs but no A Levels. Whilst I went through uni he worked his way up through the bank and now earns significantly more than me, despite the fact that I have a first class degree.

People he has worked with, who have been at uni and working in the bank have often gone on to get brilliant graduate jobs in the bank once they finish their degrees.

Just be wary of which type of work. A lot if it can be high pressure sales, even on a till.

Yes I started in a call centre at Halifax and left to be a SAHM, but several friends have climbed up the ranks into high positions and are on £40k now (entry level was £14k)

I hated it - my job wasn't to serve customers but to look for sales opportunities for higher members of staff. If we failed to get a certain amount of points we were put on improvement plans.

I had a moment when I saw what had happened to one young customer and thought 'I can't do this anymore' and the day I left I've never been more relieved.

I genuinely hope that this culture has been reigned in.

I worked on the "tranche" team of a national bank whilst at uni. You could choose from either 16 or 20 hours a week, I did 16. I worked either four nights per week (5-9) or 2 weeknights and all day Saturday. Full time during holiday season.

It was great: admin, data entry, spreadsheets, sending out letters. NO phone calls with the exception of taking messages for full-time day staff.

Pay and conditions for the time (late nineties/early noughties) much better than what pals were getting for shop/bar work.

Foslady sounds like we may have worked for different arms of the same bank. I worked in the call centre for a very well know credit card linked to a bank, at first the job was CS but over time they introduced sales and wanted them pushed hard and performance plans if you didn't.
I worked with lots of students when I moved to evening shifts after mat leave.

Do you mean retail banking (working at a High St branch or something similar) or corporate banking (asset management, M&A, investments)??

Iggy - I think that could be quite possibly the case too......

Front line branch/call centre - no point. Will be high pressure and might interfere with studies. It's also not really valued as much as administrative experience when you apply for jobs.

Back office/admin - would be useful. Most of the people on the best grad schemes in banking have this type of banking experience. Even better if it's project/data related and involves working with senior people.

There are far fewer jobs of this kind around these days. Much of the entry-level work is now outsourced to other countries (India, Poland etc.)

I worked for Ulster Bank (RBS really) for five years straight after uni. I started in the call centre and worked my way up to manager.

It was alright- I moaned about it massively at the time, but the place was so unionised we had effectively public sector terms and conditions- very generous sick policies, decent benefits and a fantastic maternity package which I'd give my right arm for now I've moved back to the proper private sector!

I worked for an arm of Lloyds part time when I started uni, then moved to a full time job in second year. By the time I graduated I was working ft for a different company - the experience meant I walked interviews for competitive grad schemes

I know people who temped for a very large American bank while at uni. Some even ditched their course and progressed through the ranks. Some now approaching 40 and never worked anywhere else.