None Review

I enjoyed the virtual work experience. This is because i got to find out what Santander Bank was really about: its core value, facts about how it came to be and what it is today. I learned that there are 9 behaviours of Santander Bank which are 1)to bring passion 2)Talk straight 3) Speak up 4)Give support 5)show respect 6)embrace change 7)Truly listen 8)keep promises and 9) Actively collaborate. Funnily enough by the time they introduced us to the core values much of them had been expressed to us by the Santander team.

The work experience provided a space for interaction and questioning . Instead of just leaving the virtual work experience to be a monotonous talk , the Santander team wanted all of us to individually take part, ask questions and converse with them so that we would really gain something from the work experience. One example of this would be that when I had asked about other work experience placements that was done by Santander they introduced me to WE Evolve and WE Flourish.

I received a lot of guidance from the Santander team. For example the team emphasised to us the importance of our digital footprint and showed us that what we upload online may be used against us in a negative way. They then provided us with advice on how to be aware of our digital footprint. In addition to this they gave us advice on how to write our CVs well when we end up applying for a job.

The virtual work experience wasn’t so much so one that places a lot of emphasis on assistance with our current studies and how we progress through them to find good apprenticeships etc The work experience, I believe, was more aimed at introducing us to Santander Bank and it’s many opportunities . It allowed for us to see the many job options that are available at Santander Bank and so this wasn’t helpful in my studies.

The virtual work experience was structured very well. At the beginning of the virtual work experience we were able to get acquainted with the Santander team , we then were shown what exactly it is Santander does and lastly were given advice in CV’s and Assessment centres . All the way throughout these sections we were allowed to ask questions to the Santander team and this was in fact encouraged which made the virtual work experience enjoyable.

The atmosphere during the virtual work experience was not tense at all but was actually quite calm and relaxed . Despite the fact that we had never known the Santander team or each other as students the ice broke very quickly and we became comfortable with speaking to the Santander team and they seemed very happy to answer any questions that were posed by the students . Overall I enjoyed the work experience and what it provided.

The Santander team partially invested their time in my personal development. This is because , as I mentioned before , we were Given advice on writing our CV’s and given information on Assessment centres which was new to me because I never knew of them before the session. However this was only a relatively small part of the work experience and so not much emphasis was put on for example teaching us how to write our personal statements .

The virtual work experience done by the Santander team helped me a lot in understanding how it would to work at the company . Firstly this is because they introduced us to the nine core values of Santander Bank which allowed for us to see the behaviours of the Santander employees. Secondly but most importantly the Santander team on the virtual work experience openly shared their view of their work place and how it is they find their colleagues .

The content provided by the Santander team was quite valuable in helping me decide on my career path. The Santander team showed us a broad range of job placements that are offered at the Santander Bank which ranged from Technology and App development to Social Marketing and design . However the work experience did not give advice on how it is we are to find the “right job” for ourselves keeping in kind we barely know what it is we are going to apply for University .

The virtual work experience had two members of Santander Bank speaking to us throughout the work experience m. Besides the two members we did not get any opportunity to be introduced to other employees of Santander Bank. This would have been a great addition to the work experience as we would have been allowed to hear from other workers who play a different role at Santander Bank and perhaps a would have encouraged us more to look into applying for apprenticeships at Santander Bank.

I would highly recommend this virtual work experience to my friends. This is because the virtual work experience broadened my view on what a bank was . Before the virtual work experience I only thought that the main components of a bank were its financial dw your however because of the work experience I learned that there are other sectors such as audit , customer interaction and risk assessment teams that underpin the bank which allowed me to realise I don’t have to study banking and finance to work at a bank and there are multiple jobs that are non finance related that I can apply for .