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Ashley Clifford: You’re like, “let’s do this”. Ashley: So, hi, I’m Ashley Clifford, and I’m the Head of Early Talent here at NatWest. I joined myself 12 years ago on the HR graduate programme, and I remember the nerves, also the excitement but also wondering how I was going to make a difference when there was just so much that I had to learn. Michael, Cyber Security Apprentice: “I was scared at first, you know, I didn’t know what was going to happen, how I was going to be treated and it’s been an amazing journey. It’s been an amazing journey so far. Raphael, Software Engineering Graduate: “The culture is great, the people are lovely. I’ve worked on very big projects where I’ve been trusted to deliver. People here are just really ready to support. Kelsey, Corporates & Institutions Apprentice: All of us help each other get through, not just for ourselves but for everyone. Ashley: Whether it’s enrolling in an insight experience, whether it’s looking at an internship across eight weeks, or whether it’s an apprenticeship or a graduate programme, there’s lots of routes in; no one route is the right way. Bateman, Data & Analytics Graduate: I really had no idea what data and analytics was when I kind of signed up for this programme and applied for this job. I studied marine biology, so I had no idea what I was getting into. Coming in, they are really clear about just sort of what direction you might want to take your career and it’s so helpful to sort of have someone explain the very basic stuff about what you’re going to be doing and what the programme is. Victoria, Software Engineering Graduate: So for my undergrad, I actually studied medical biosciences, but coming to the end of it, I came to quite enjoy programming and I realised that biomedical research wasn’t for me. Kelsey: I didn’t know what I wanted to do from school, I did a lot of different things and it just wasn’t for me. I wanted a career where I was busy, that was challenging. I feel like I fit here, the culture’s different and I don’t have to feel ashamed of a lot of things like being dyslexic. I always felt ashamed, but here it’s open. Everybody talks about it. It’s just been a great journey. Abbey, Financial Crime Graduate: A lot of the cohort with me as well, no one’s got the same degree and we all come from different backgrounds, so it’s a really interesting place and like everyone can bring their own spin to it as well. Ashley: One of the things that I think is brilliant about working for NatWest is the access that you have so much learning, whether it’s our wellbeing offering, whether it’s our learning journeys that are specifically designed to give you the very best learning and development at that point in your journey. Bateman: You move into different teams and every single team have different kind of ways of working, but they provide really centralised kind of like learning tools that we can use. Ashley: One of the things that we do is give people multiple different people to support them on their journey. So whether that’s a line manager, whether that’s a coach, whether it’s a buddy, that’s really important, so that they’re getting lots of different perspectives. Our purpose is to turn possibilities into progress and that’s why we are really passionate at supporting early talent to find all of the possibilities at the start of their career and to help them to turn that into progress, so that they can achieve their potential. Ashley: Looking back, I actually wish that I knew what I know now, which is there is so much support around you. The power is everyone coming together to share their ideas and to collaborate.