Career Choices

There are so many different types of jobs in our world. How does one figure what he or she wants to do? This is one of the toughest questions adults face today. People always say do what you love to do or do something fun. I definitely struggled with making a career decision, it took a lot of self exploration. I switched my major twice, and I changed my career outlook at least 20 times. Honestly I still haven’t chosen a career, but I have narrowed my choices down.

My interviewee is Angela, she is a Private Banking Relationship Manager at US Bank. She has a wide variety of education and experience. She has been in the banking industry since 1980. She has education in business management, accounting and finance. She has experience as a teller, manager, business banker, loan officer, and priority banker. A Private Banking Relationship Manager is an expert in understanding and helping clients achieve their financial needs and goals. This can vary from credit and deposit products to sophisticated financial planning. As you can see you cannot just jump into this job. It takes years of familiarizing yourself with products and knowing how to respond to clients. My main focus while I work at US Bank, as a teller, is doing just that. I try to understand all the jargon throughout the day. I am also tested weekly on my customer service skills. My job right now is hopefully preparing me to be a suitable Private Banking Relationship Manager.

An ordinary day for a PBRM consists of constantly checking your email and phone. Angela said, “you always have to be available to your clients”. If you are not close to your phone, you may take too long to respond and potentially miss out on sales, this business is all about being reactive and proactive. While waiting for calls, she works on her Loan Pipeline or makes calls from her lead’s list. As you can see there is a lot of phone activity involved in this job. When she does get a scheduled meeting she can meet at their place of business or at one of her assigned banks. This job requires you to be very people oriented and socially adaptive.

Some of the challenges a PBRM face in this economy is getting loans approved due to low appraisal or income. This can hurt a PBRM’s income, because you can get a referral for a loan, but if it doesn’t get processed through the system than you will not get incentive. So obviously the economy has a major effect on a PBRM’s income. Angela stated, “Sometimes customers want better rates on their savings or CD and we are just not able to meet that”. This can have an effect on your clients that come to you for their business. The clients trust that you can give them the best rates and give them the biggest “bang for their buck”, sometimes they feel resentful that you are not doing your best.

In my opinion the toughest part of this job is first building you cliental and then keeping them all satisfied. But Angela said this takes time and practice, it soon becomes second nature. You have the chance to build real relationships with these customers, it takes a lot of time and hard work. Angela believes the biggest downfall to her job is being stuck in traffic when she has a scheduled meeting. I can imagine this can be frustrating for her and the client.

After the interview I felt good, I believed that I can really do this if given the opportunity. I know I can succeed in this field. I am building the knowledge of products and have great customer service skills. Angela recommended this job to anyone who has these basic qualifications. I think if I follow her steps and climb the job ladder that I too can become a PBRM in the near future.