Internship in Commercial Bank of Qatar - Example

Name: Zainab Mohammed Moussa Institution: Qatar University College of Business and Economics Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Company History 3 Organization mission 4 Objectives 4 Services it offers 5 Wholesale banking division 5 Retail banking division 5 Partners/associates and subsidiaries 5 Job Title 6 Training completed 6 Week One 8 Training completed 8 Week Two 9 Training completed 9 Week Three 10 Training completed 10 Week Four 11 Training completed 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Company History The commercial bank of Qatar was established in 1975 as a designated Bank of Account and was the 1st private bank in Qatar. By the year 1978, it had developed and established a foreign exchange and funding division and became an associate member of visa. The 1st branch was opened in Souq Al Ahmed in 1980. Over the years, the bank has grown with Qatar citizens to continually improve and boost the nation’s values, traditions through improved innovations. By 1981 and 1982, plans for opening the head office were underway and by 1985, the bank purchased a 10% share of the Paris International Bank. The head office was moved to the Grand Hamad Street in 1986 and in 1987 the first branch dedicated to women was opened. Few years later, personal loans and Vehicle loans were introduced. By 1991, the bank had acquired the Diners Club Franchise and launched the Crest Card for Qatar and in 1992; the bank introduced the Point of Sales Machines. In 1996, the signed a strategic alliance with Fidelity Investments. By 1997, the bank had become a licensed broker on the Doha Securities Market. In 2004, the bank became the title sponsor of the MotorGP Grand Prix of Qatar and in 2005, the bank created an alliance with the National Bank of Oman. In 2008, the bank had listed its Global Depository Receipts and became the 1st of its kind in the entire Qatari nation and the largest in the Gulf region. In 2009, the new headquarters of the bank was inaugurated by H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar and in 2010, the bank launched Massoun Insurance Services together with the Qatar Insurance Company. In 2011, the bank won awards such as the City Performance Excellent Award and JP Morgan Quality Recognition Award which are recognized internationally. In 2012, the bank established a strategic partnership with the Katara Cultural village Foundation and this partnership shows how committed the bank is to supporting cultural activities in the country. Currently, the bank agreed to acquire a 70.84% shareholding in Alternatifbank AS in Turkey. Organization mission The bank mainly operates on a simple promise that it has made to its customers-We believe everything is possible. This promise reflects the entrepreneurial value of the founders of the bank and it has been in use since the establishment of the bank in year 1975. The promise is inspired by the sense and drive of possibility that defines the spirit of Qatar today. The bank and its employees look to the future to meet tomorrow’s aspirations, while still maintaining focus on the current financial needs of Qatari nationals. It aims to respond quickly to new chances and opportunities. It seeks to establish the fact that it has a 24-hour banking system and the customers can rely on the bank at any particular time and at any particular place. Objectives To remain at the heart of the development and diversification of the country’s economy. To continue maintaining a strong performance in the Qatar, together with a focus on regional expansion with the Gulf Co-operation Council region. Services it offers The bank mainly based and categorized its services in Retail and Wholesale banking divisions. It makes its strategic investments through its subsidiaries and associates/partners in different industries in the business fraternity. Wholesale banking division In the wholesale banking division, the bank provides various services ranging from conventional commercial and investment banking products and services to small, medium and large enterprises. These products and services include deposits, loans, letters of credit, trade finance, guarantees and corporate lending. Retail banking division In retail banking, the bank offers personal banking products and services to its retail customers. These services and products include mortgages, credit cards, current and deposit accounts, personal loans, wealth management and vehicle management. Partners/associates and subsidiaries Through networking with other banking partners, subsidiaries and strategic partners, the bank has been able to deliver a unique market value and better value for its customers and shareholders. Job Title I joined the Commercial Bank of Qatar for my internship which lasted for four weeks. During this period I worked as a customer care representative and relations person. With my job description came with it duties and roles that I was expected to fulfill. These included attending to customers grievances, opening accounts for the new customers, issuing of transaction cards like ATMs, helping customers in paper work, documentation of personal documents belonging to the customers and helped in recruiting and posting of new interns. The company expectations of me were for me to take responsibilities that came with the job position that they had offered me of customer care representative and relations person. I managed well with the added training that I acquired through the internship. The people that I was working close within the bank were very helpful and they helped in grooming me and giving me guidelines when I was stranded with a task. I gained good communication skills and established good relations with customers. I learned that the key to establishing a good relationship is through communication. What you say and what you do really go along way when you want to establish a good relationship with anyone be it a customer or a colleague at work. Training completed At the customer care desk, I was at the fore front and the first person responsible with handling customers’ grievances. During my 1st week training, I established an excellent customer service delivery. I learnt effective skills on how to handle customers and how to get through to them. This helped the organization to gain more customers and to retain loyal ones. I learnt that the customer is always right and his/her needs should come first within an organization. I gained a clear perspective of handling customers so as to give them the satisfactory answer or service that they require. This helped me gain excellent communication skills and also boosted my knowledge in problem solving and finding solutions to difficult situations. I gained knowledge and skills of commercial awareness. I learnt how businesses like the bank works, how they make money, customers’ needs and how to satisfy them, what problem solving skills are required at work especially while dealing with customers (Wilkinson, 2006) I learnt to always remain calm while working under a lot of pressure. Handling customers can prove a challenge and it needs patience and composure. Some customers can be difficult to handle for example because of their rudeness or arrogance. I learnt how to handle such customers and not to lose my cool before them. I learnt how to corporate with people-working in a team. This helped in boosting my problem solving skills. While working in a team under strict team leader, quick decision making was required and this needed quick thinking and analysis of finding the best solution. I learnt to take initiative and performing duties on my own without any supervision. I became my own supervisor and did things on my own without any directions. This went well with my supervisor and was recorded as excellent performance by an intern. I learnt my duties in the bank as an intern very easily because they had been spelled out for me by my supervisor and I became very responsible. I would go by my duties without any follow up done by my supervisor. I worked to the best of my knowledge with no supervision. I learnt to be my own boss and to do things on my own. Integrity is a key skill that every employee in a company needs to embrace. Integrity is the steadfast adherence to follow moral and ethical code. A person with integrity will not be swayed to do something that is wrong and can jeopardize his work. I learnt to be a stickler of rules and morality in my work and also in my personal life. I acquired knowledge and excellent computer skills. I learnt about the internal hiring system at the bank, how to scan and upload documents in the system. I learnt how to analyze and make good judgements and decision making skills. After the interviewing candidates, my supervisor involved me to be part of the selection process and here I used my decision making skills to make the appropriate choice. During the interviews before the selection, I would really put my concentration on what kind of questions the interviewer asks and how the interviewee responds to them. And through this I acquired active listening skills. During my last week, I got an opportunity to work with different teams of career management such as Qatarization and career. Week One Training completed I was an intern at the Commercial bank of Qatar at the Sadara branch. During my first week with the bank, I was able to be trained as a customer care representative where I learnt to open bank accounts of potential customers through the computer. This entailed entering the customer personal details that were necessary for account opening in the bank’s system. The second training task was to perform was organizing data and information through the computer. After I entered the customers’ details in the computer, I would arrange the customers’ details in the computer alphabetically according to their first names. This was done for easy retrieval of information when need arises. The third thing that I was trained to do during my first week of training was organizing files. Filling can be tricky because every organization has a different method of filling. I learnt how to do filling according to how the bank does it. Every paper work that was done by the customers needed filling. Different paper work for different issues needed to be filled differently for example paper work for account opening had to be done separately. Week Two Training completed On my second week I was trained opening new accounts and reissuing cards and issuing new ones to new customers. I was also shown how to check the authenticity of checks, stamping them and putting down the relevant details concerning the check like account number of which the check is to deposited or transferred to. I learnt how to scan documents and saving them in the computer as an additional skill during my second week of training. Paper brought in by customers and official documents like marriage certificates, passport photos and Identification cards were required to be scanned for documentation. Week Three Training completed During my third week at the bank, I attended a developmental work shop for a brief training in various duties at the bank. The 1st task that I learnt was reduce stress by using different techniques like taking a short walk, remaining calm and composed, taking a break and relaxing for a few minutes so that you can cool down. These techniques really helped me in reducing my stress level especially in beating deadlines. The second skills that I acquired during the work shop are problem solving skills. I learnt how to make the right solutions as quick as possible. I learnt how to analyze situations and make the most appropriate decision. (Beach, 1996). The third skill that I learnt was how to communicate and interact with customers. Customers are the arch of any business and how they are treated by employees in a business determines the returns that the business will make in terms of profits. Customers are supposed to be handled with care and compassion. Their needs and wants need to be met to full their full satisfaction. The fourth skill that I learnt was how to be a team member/team player. I learnt how to work in a team. Working with a diverse group of people can be challenging at first because every individual has different character traits and personality. Understanding how different people think, what they want, how they work can be the first step in winning them over and working with them in harmony. Week Four Training completed On my last and final week at the bank, I was trained to do something different and not part of the duties directly related to the bank. I was trained on how to handle the new group of interns that were coming after us. I was in charge of calling them up to confirm to them the reporting day and the branch that they will report to. I learnt how to make offer letters for the different programmes within the bank. Examples of the letters were letters regarding graduate development, bachelor programme and internship letters and recommendation letters. I learnt to make decisions on procedures of placing interns in different department and following up on different branch managers to confirm where vacancies are available so that interns can be placed. Collecting, entering into the system and filling documents and paper work for the new interns and staff that are joining the bank. Paper work and documentation is required for formalities within the organization. Scanning and processing documents on commercial bank and connecting them with the internal hiring and recruiting system. Conclusion An internship is a very important part of the school curriculum. It gives a candidate the exposure of how the real work place is all about. It gives a chance to practise and apply what he/she ahs learnt in school. It gives him a perspective of what career path to take and helps him make the right choice of what to do after college. Gaining work experience is an added advantage and a selling point for any graduate looking for employment. Employees want people who know what they want and who understand their responsibilities. I loved the experience that I gained while at the Commercial bank of Qatar at the Sadara branch. I gained a lot of skills in different sectors of the bank but especially on handling customers. This experience and exposure has opened my eyes on what to do and where to go looking for employment after graduating. It has given me a chance to prove my self and rank myself on where I stand in job offers and the chances of me getting a job. It is an experience that I would have never found in a classroom. References Beach, L. Roy, (1996) Decision making in the work place-A unified perspective: New York: Psychology Press Wilkinson, D., Aspinall, S. (2006) Commercial Awareness Report: Commissioned and funded by the University of Leeds and the NCGE. Pride, W. M., Hughes R. J. & Kapoor J. R. (2011). Foundations of Business, 3rd ed. London: Cengage Learning, 2011 Read More