Alliance & Leicester Graduate Scheme
Background
Chris Longsdale, 25,
graduated in 2005 with a degree in Physical Geography &
Environmental 
Management from Keele
University.
Phone Interview to Contract
Signing
After finishing university, Chris, like many
new graduates didn’t know what, how or where he would find ‘the
career’ he had been studying towards. He had found a job, but
nothing that offered him a long-term future. In 2007 Chris’ brother
sent him a web link to Pareto, one of the UK’s largest graduate
assessment, placement and training companies, which advertised a
role with Alliance & Leicester. Chris sent in his CV and was
quickly contacted by a Pareto Graduate Manager for a short initial
telephone interview. The interview went well, and he was invited to
the next stage of the application process, an assessment day, later
that month.
"During the phone interview I was able to
ask questions and gain understanding of the type of jobs available.
It was the Alliance & Leicester role that really interested me
so to be invited to their assessment day was my chance to find out
more and see if I would fit with their company culture,” said
Chris
Getting to Grips with the Assessment
Day
The Alliance & Leicester Assessment Day was dedicated to
finding people just for them. A team from the Alliance &
Leicester sat in on the activities, which were held at the Pareto
Assessment Centre in Cheshire. Designed to be a fun and challenging
experience, the assessment day combines team-building 
activities,
psychometric testing, interviews and presentations.
While sales form a key part of his role, he also works with a
number of strategic business partners who offer merchant services
and business ban king as an additional element of their operations,
with Chris providing advice, support and updates to help them
develop their business.
The opportunity to work with the Alliance
& Leicester was very exciting, particularly in my role, which
offers great diversity and the chance to work with some very
talented people. One day I can be working from home, the next I’m
meeting with directors of a partner company – it’s a fast paced
environment and offers great potential for me,”said Chris
Training for Success
All of the Alliance & Leicester graduates combine on-the-job
training with the company’s official training programme, workshops
and FSA training, providing them with a range of skills to quickly
fit into their roles. Graduates also benefit from confidential
one-to-one briefings and specialist training workshops with
independent business advisors from outside the company. These
advisors are all leaders in their field, and focus on the graduates
to help them maximise their potential.
Chris is now studying for the 12-month Diploma in Relationship
Management, financed by Alliance & Leicester, and over the
coming months he will take Commercial Awareness, Trusted Advisor,
Credit & Risk and Negotiation courses. All of the training is
designed to support his growth and development within the financial
environment.
Looking to the Future
The opportunities within Alliance & Leicester are vast. The
size of the company means there are plenty of opportunities for
Chris to develop and potentially take his career in a different
direction. SME banking is a big growth area and offers Chris the
chance to quickly move into a senior management role.
Alternatively, the corporate side offers a range of opportunities
to broaden his experience and grow his skill base. Chris is also
lucky enough to have a mentor in Simon Lloyd, Alliance &
Leicester’s HR Director, who is focused on continually developing
and improving the graduate scheme.
Alliance & Leicester and
Pareto
Alliance & Leicester is best known as a high street bank in the
UK, with over 5.5 million customers and 252 branches across the UK.
Its Commercial Banking arm provides finance and investment
solutions to companies ranging from major blue chips to specialist
organisations.
Pareto places some 1600 graduates a year with companies across
the UK, including leading blue-chips and specialist organisations.
The attraction of Pareto’s approach is its ability to assess
graduates on more than their degree, looking at everything from
personality to motivators, which allows them to place graduates in
roles suited to their individual goals and ambitions. Pareto also
provides a range of training programmes covering presentation
skills to negotiation.
Pareto is now Alliance & Leicester’s only provider of new
graduate talent, with the two companies working in partnership to
select and develop the best people to build on Alliance &
Leicester’s success.
At the end of the Assessment Day the Alliance & Leicester was
so impressed at the quality of the Pareto graduates that they chose
to appoint 15 to roles across the business – initially they had
only been looking for five – with Chris selected for a role as a
Business Development Manager.
The assessment process is very thorough,
but you learn a lot about yourself and your skills. It was a great
opportunity to meet other graduates and have the chance to meet
your potential employer. I asked plenty of questions of them in the
interview so I got a real understanding of the roles on offer and
the culture of the business – this really helped strengthen my
interest in the job and the company,” said Chris
On the Job
Chris, along with the other 14 successful graduates started with
Alliance & Leicester in September 2007. Chris was appointed to
Business Development Manager in a brand new small team within the
Business Banking Sales department. His first couple of months were
spent getting to know the business - its departments, people and
operations - while also developing his skills and knowledge for the
job through specific training, coaching and mentoring. Now five
months on, Chris is focused on developing and winning new business
to drive the company’s growth across the Midlands. His role offers
great variety: one day he can be on a conference call from home,
the next in a business meeting in Birmingham, or pitching to a
potential new client in Nottingham. Chris also calls on his
presentation, negotiation and advisory skills to attract new
clients and retain existing business.
"Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank
is a successful, broadly based operation which is making real
inroads into the UK Banking market. It provides tangible
development opportunities for quality graduates across a range of
disciplines. The key to success, both for the Bank and the
graduates, is effective sourcing and identification through a
robust and well-established process. Pareto provide just such a
service and we are absolutely delighted with the way in which our
partnership is developing"
Bryce Glover, Director of
Corporate Banking, Alliance & Leicester
“Interested? “Searching for jobs and
making life changing decisions can be a daunting experience but
contacting Pareto really has been a turning point for me and I
would thoroughly recommend it,”said Chris
Joining the Alliance & Leicester Graduate Scheme offers you
a challenging and varied career with the opportunity to branch into
one of the many different sectors of the business from Commercial
or Business Banking and Finance; to Property, Corporate
Administration, Treasury or even Technology. Salaries for graduates
at Alliance & Leicester start from £23,000 and a £1,500 joining
bonus, plus personal pension.