Focus on: Jamie Sole

Senior Local Business Manager

What‘s good about the job?
Important Skills and Attributes
Progression & Future Opportunities
What else do you need to know?

Jamie joined Barclays after following a career in retailing which started on a Youth Training Scheme programme with Dixons when he left school. From there he progressed steadily to Flagship Store Manager with O2, only leaving O2 to take up his current role.

Jamie says: “Banking was always my second career choice after retail. I loved working in retail and only left 02 when there were no more progression opportunities for me. The skills and personal attributes that I have developed in my retail career have transferred very well into this new role for Barclays”.

Jamie acknowledges that it has not always been a straight progression through to where he is now. From his first YTS role at Dixons he moved into merchandising and then became a trainee manager for Dixons for 7/8 years. When he made a move to BT he took a step down to an Assistant Manager’s role because he felt there would be good progression opportunities in the future. Jamie progressed to Senior Manager and then Regional Training Manager with BT before making a sideways move to Flagship Store Manager for 02. “On the way I was consistently building on my retail experience”.

Jamie’s current role as a commercial Business Manager means he deals with existing business customers and he is regulated to advise on commercial mortgages.

His works with a wide range of businesses, from small ‘one man bands’ to bigger companies including a payroll bureau, manufacturing and retail businesses plus charities and medical practices. He also has a number of clients that have seasonal businesses at Bridlington.

Currently he has about 200 existing business customers.

A typical day includes:

Phone calls from customers
An appointment with a customer; Jamie likes to go out to visit clients; it gives him an opportunity to see the business and get an understanding of how it operates
Drafting out a commercial mortgage or arranging a loan for a client
Chasing up a solicitors
Dealing with brokers who pass business on to him
Taking part in conference calls to keep in touch with other colleagues and to share successes
Attending local business networking events

Regularly he will take a walk around the town and drop off business cards. He feels it is important to be very proactive in extending his business client base.

Sometimes he even has time for lunch! Jamie likes to be able to take clients out for lunch regularly; it is an ideal opportunity to develop customer relations and get a better understanding of the client’s business and specific banking needs.

Jamie reports reports regularly to both his Hub Manager who gives all directions and the Area Manager.

What‘s good about the job?

Jamie enjoys:

Meeting customers, finding out how their businesses work and building strong relationships with them
Being able to plan his own diary
Achieving his targets
Learning as he carries out his role; he admits it was a big learning curve when he first joined the company, but he gets great satisfaction out of the challenge and appreciates the support that the bank has given him in this process.

Jamie acknowledges that are some more difficult aspects to the job: dealing with rude and difficult clients can be frustrating but he has learnt not to take it personally.

Important Skills and Attributes

Strong and consistent attention for detail – you can’t afford to make mistakes!
Good communication and inter-personal skills: there is a lot of team working in the job
Good analytical skills; you need to be able to analyse data to produce information that you, colleagues or customers can use
A willingness to take time to research and get to know your business and the market you are working in

Progression & Future Opportunities

Jamie is pleased that there are further opportunities for progression and good company training to support this. He is aiming for an Area Manager’s position or even, ultimately, a Regional Manager’s role as he enjoys managing people.

Jamie confirms that Barclays have an ongoing commitment to up-skilling and re-skilling their employees and he is very proud to work for the brand which he feels demonstrates strong principles.

“Barclays are very committed to investing in their staff by supporting them in further training opportunities. If you want to progress there is a lot of help and support available. But if you want to make the most of these opportunities, you have to be willing to make an ‘investment’ in yourself which could mean undertaking further training in your own time. This can make a working day very long but you have to look forward to the potential longer term rewards”.

What else do you need to know?

Don’t expect 9-5 working days. There can be a flexi working and sometimes weekend work. You may have to attend team meetings, client appointments or networking events that extend your working day.
You will need a clean driving licence as much of the work can be outside the office eg attending meetings, visiting clients.
You need to be able to plan ahead and manage your time effectively. If you don’t plan your journey times (particularly in a rural area) you could end up being late on client visits, which doesn’t create a good impression!
Working in a bank is not all about financial skills or being really good at maths; you also need good people skills; the job’s about working with and for people.

Finally Jamie says: “Have a good CV and maintain the will and interest to keep learning. Welcome constructive feedback and use it to improve your own personal performance. If you’re willing to invest in yourself, you can go a long way”.