Seema
Joined HBOS in 2002
Studied Insurance and Investments at City University
Promoted from Personal Financial Adviser to Senior PFA shortly after joining.
How did you come to work at HBOS?
After graduating from my insurance and investment degree at City University I went to work at AXA as a broker consultant, where I advised financial advisers on various financial products and services. But after a while I realised that what I really wanted to do was talk to the people who’d actually benefit from those products, namely the customers.
I chose HBOS because it’s an established and highly successful brand. I mean, who hasn’t heard of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland? Plus they had some great products for me to sell and I heard they looked after their people really well.
What training did you receive when you joined?
I started as a Personal Financial Adviser (PFA) and went on a five-week training course in Leeds, where I learnt about all the different products HBOS offer and the systems used to help sell them to customers. At the end of the five weeks, my Area Manager came up to Leeds to make sure I’d developed the necessary knowledge to be a successful PFA.
After that I spent a further three weeks with a Senior PFA back in London, further developing my skills and dealing directly with customers (under supervision). Once I’d passed all that I was qualified to start offering advice to customers in my own right.
What’s your role now?
I’m a Senior Personal Financial Adviser, based in the Brent Cross branch. The majority of my time is spent talking to customers about our various products and services. These range from pensions and bonds to ISAs and protection products such as life assurance. A lot of my customers are referred to me by my branch colleagues. However, I also make a point of getting out and about in the banking hall to approach customers myself.
On top of this I spend one day a week training other PFAs in branches across the London North region. This involves helping them improve their selling skills and talking to their branch managers about how they can implement new ways of generating sales leads.
What sort of targets do you have?
We have monthly and quarterly targets to meet and you’re well rewarded if you achieve them, so it’s in my interest to do all I can to help my team perform to their potential.
With that in mind you do have to be the sort of person who enjoys working to targets. Good people skills are also really important because to be successful you need to be able to relate to, and build up relationships with, customers of all ages and backgrounds.
What’s the culture like?
The branch environment is very friendly and sociable. It is sales-focused but you get a lot of support from your colleagues to help you meet your targets. Also I really like the fact that no matter what your role is people will always listen to what you have to say.
Get any good benefits?
Every year the top performers in regulated sales (nationally) are rewarded. I was lucky enough to be one of those top performers (although I worked hard for it) and won a four-day trip to Dubai. Also every quarter the top six performers in our region will earn themselves a reward through Kudos - our recognition scheme - such as a two-day break to Paris.
What’s the next step for your career?
The SPFA role provides a stepping stone into management and I suppose the next logical step would be to go into area management. But there are so many options. For example I’m currently in an area called Regulated Sales but I could go on to gain experience in Business banking or use my coaching skills to go into a purely training role.
To help with my development, I have quarterly reviews with my area manager and if I want to learn new skills I have access to the PFA Academy, which provides a lot of self training courses.
