Tolga chose to spend his week’s work experience with the team at Access Financial Services.  Here he talks about his time with us.

Why Access Financial Services

I’ve always been interested in the finance industry and was lucky enough to be offered a few weeks work experience at Access Financial Services.  They are a team of Independent Mortgage and Protection Advisers, who are developing their successful business to provide their clients with mortgage, protection, insurance and commercial funding and everything in between.

Meeting the team

During my first week, I spent time with everyone who works at the Head Office to find out more about their roles and responsibilities.  It was quite an eye-opener. They are all really experienced professionals within their specific disciplines.  I had no idea that a successful business required so many key people.  What was most surprising is how supportive they are of each other.  I’ve heard the word collaboration banded around before– but here I saw it in action.

The conversations I had with the team helped me understand how broad the financial industry is and how different companies operate in different ways.  Being able to offer something unique is really important and this is the common theme with the discussions I had with everyone.  The unique proposition is simply about putting their clients at the centre of what they do and this is something they are committed to – even the team members that aren’t dealing direct with clients.  Here’s a brief overview of everyone I met.

Karl and Ali are the CEOs.  Karl founded the company over 18 years ago and both Ali and Karl have a wealth of experience in the industry.  They lead the team to meet the business targets and achieve year on year growth.

Sian is the Learning & Development Manager and joined from Pepper. She is leading the training of the mortgage advisers, helping them develop a personal development plan.  Sian structured my induction with Access so I could get the most out of my time there.

Karen recently joined as Head of Marketing. Before joining Access, Karen was a Marketing Consultant for several firms in the finance industry and is now developing the Marketing Strategy and Plan to help drive the business forward.

Ty is the master of all knowledge in the world of Access!  He manages the operations side of things and loads besides.

Turan is the Business Development Manager, supporting the mortgage advisers to provide our clients with the best advice.  He also has a daily target of making everyone laugh.  Most days he succeeds!

Sue is Head of Compliance and manages the compliance side of things.  Sue has a wealth of experience and makes sure the team are conducting in accordance with FCA regulations.

Paul is Head of Equity Release: Paul is developing a new area of the business, helping clients release equity from their home to fund their retirement.

Cem is Ty’s ‘Executive Assistant’ and took me under his wing and showed me the ropes.

Clara supports the compliance team and helps with administration and anything that needs doing to support the team.

The time I spent with the team inspired me to the extent that I’m now convinced that I would like to take my CeMap qualification and pursue this as my career.

Highlights of my week

• Helping put induction packs together for our new advisers.  This is the first process of welcoming new advisers to the team.  I was really impressed by the amount of support they get and how comprehensive their training and development is.
• Setting up a database of contacts to help the team with their lead generation initiatives.
• Competitor research for helping to market the Equity Release services.
• Attending network events to help build the profile of the company.
• I went on a training course to learn about business protection which was provided by Legal and General and hosted by Access.  It was really in-depth and the advisers seemed to enjoy the session, but there was a lot to take in and a lot went over my head!

Final thoughts

 Before I started my work experience, I hoped to learn more about mortgages and the different types of financial services that are provided by Access such as mortgages, protection, equity release, insurance and commercial funding. During my work experience, I developed my knowledge about all these services.  More significantly, I learnt about the importance of the team behind the scenes.  They are such a nice, professional bunch of people, who were not only experts but also down to earth and so friendly – which made it easier for me to interact with them which meant I really enjoyed my experience with them. As a result I’m now even more motivated to pursue a career in the finance industry, and I’m hoping to come back to see the team at Access again soon.

If you need personalised mortgage and protection advice, contact the team  – they’ll look after you like they have me!