Rebecca from Skills Group completed a case study regarding Dan Saunders apprenticeship with Mortgages Explained:
Employer Focus: Mortgages Explained
Mortgages Explained is a highly professional and welcoming mortgage advice company, with years of experience and led by a specialist team of experts. The organisation prides itself on building long lasting relationships with its customers by providing a personalised service tailored to their needs. We spoke to Sue Maddern, Office Manager, to find out more about the company and its apprentices.
“The organisation has grown significantly since it first opened its doors. Our apprentices have helped to deal with a lot of admin, allowing our advisors to take on more clients and increase business.
“Our apprentices gain a great deal of experience, learning on a one-to-one basis from trained advisors who have been in the business for years. The apprentices look after client cases from start to finish, so gain an understanding of the whole process and have a lot of responsibility.”
Daniel Saunders is currently completing his Level 4 Business Administration apprenticeship through Skills Group while working at Mortgages Explained.
“Dan is doing extremely well and is a benefit to the company. He is proactive with his ideas, supportive to other team members and requires minimal supervision – he even helped to set up our business social media accounts. We invest time and further training into our apprentices as we aim to keep them on after they finish their qualification. With Dan, we plan to support him to become a mortgage advisor and develop his career in the sector.
“My advice for other employers thinking of hiring an apprentice would be to spend time recruiting the right person. When we were interviewing Dan, we asked him to come in for a whole day and sit with each member of the team. This meant we got to know him and vice versa, to ensure he was a good fit with our staff.
“We have a good relationship with Skills Group – the team is very professional and we would work with them again in the future.”
Rebecca from the Skills Group also spoke with one of Mortgages Explained's apprentices, Dan, for his thoughts on his placement:
Success Stories: Daniel Saunders, Level 4 Business Administration
“I chose to do an apprenticeship as I wanted to be earning money whilst working towards a career rather than spending time at University”
We had a chat with Daniel Saunders who is completing his Level 4 Business Administration qualification at Mortgages Explained – a well-respected and expert mortgage advice company in Plymouth city centre. We asked Daniel why he chose an apprenticeship.
“I wanted to develop my business knowledge further - and particularly in finance. The role here allows me to broaden my knowledge of mortgages and build on my previous experience through getting involved in a huge variety of tasks. I manage the case loads of customers from start to finish, which means I phone lenders and solicitors for updates, make sure customers are well informed of processes and ensure applications are completed properly. I also help the mortgage advisors with research.
“The job was daunting at first as the mortgage sector is a whole new business area to get to grips with. However the team are very supportive, we all get on well, and I’m really enjoying the job. Once I’ve completed my qualification, I’d like to stay here and start the Certificate of Mortgage Advice. This takes 12 months to complete and then I’ll be a trainee mortgage advisor – I’m very grateful that the company is willing to support me through this. In the future, I’d like to keep growing with the organisation.
“My advice for anyone thinking of doing an apprenticeship would be to take on more responsibility wherever you can and embrace the opportunity to learn new skills. I’m pleased I chose to do an apprenticeship as I now have an exciting career in front of me!”