Birmingham Future’s Graduate Apprentice Scheme

Birmingham Future’s Graduate Apprentice Scheme has confirmed three top employers for 2010. Existing Graduate Apprentice employer Deloitte are to be joined by Brewin Dolphin and Birmingham Development Company to support the scheme, which is now in its fifth year.

Set up in 2006, The Graduate Apprentice is run by the Talent Retention and Development Committee and supported by Graduate Advantage. It aims to give one exceptional gradate an unrivalled insight into the vibrant social and professional scene of Birmingham through individual sixteen week placements at three Birmingham based firms.

Graduate Apprentice 2007, TRaD Committee chair and now of Deloitte, Jason Norris said: “I can safely say that experiencing working at the three different firms greatly improved my understanding of how the business world actually operates and was the best career decision that I have made. Deloitte continue to support the scheme following my year, offering the opportunity for the Graduate Apprentice to experience the diverse world of a professional services firm. The scheme continues to provide top class candidates, and Deloitte are delighted to continue to be involved.”

Anthony McCourt from Birmingham Development Company Ltd said: “As developers of Birmingham we were extremely keen to become involved in a scheme which helps to promote and publicise the city as an exciting place to live and work. I sit on the committee that helps administer the scheme and quickly realised the value that both the apprentice and the employer get out of participating in the scheme.”

Stephen Jones, a Divisional Director and Head of the Birmingham office of Brewin Dolphin said: “Brewin Dolphin is proud to support Birmingham Future’s Graduate Apprentice Scheme as we firmly believe in the importance of nurturing the business leaders of the future. The apprentice will have the opportunity to assist in the daily tasks of Investment Managers as well as being able to attend business development events and strategy meetings that will help assist in building up a good understanding of the UK financial markets and global economy.”

For further information, or if anyone you know would benefit from applying to be Birmingham’s fifth Graduate Apprentice, visit www.thegraduateapprentice.co.uk.

Interview with Amrita Sidhu

The city’s young professional network is always happy to welcome a new face, and last week, as part of a programme of engaging with individual Future members, I met a new arrival who has fallen for everything Birmingham has to offer.
Amrita Sidhu arrived in Birmingham 12 months ago, after spending 3 years working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London. Amrita followed the majority of graduates to the capital after completing a three year Maths & Computer Science degree at Oxford. Her transfer to the Forensic Services department in PWC’s Birmingham office was initially a 6 month plan, which was then extended for a further 6 months, before Amrita became a Birmingham member of staff in September.
‘The appeal of Birmingham was both a social and a work one’ Amrita said as we caught up over a coffee in Starbucks on Colmore Row. ‘Having friends and family who have both lived and worked in the city, I was sure that I would be welcomed into the close knit community immediately. The opportunity to work as part of the Birmingham office was one that I took to continue to develop my career with my firm, and PwC has given me a fantastic opportunity to continue to progress’.
Having spent three years completing a 45 minute commute to and from the office in London, Amrita now enjoys the walk from Jewellery Quarter to Cornwall Court. She also enjoys being within easy reach of the important areas of the city, being able to walk to Brindleyplace for an after work drink, or being close enough to venture into one of the small bars in and around St Paul’s Square. ‘The business community of Birmingham is a vibrant one, big enough to attract some of the major investment banks, but compact enough that you can easily walk between offices for meetings. I came to Birmingham for the job opportunity here, and with the continued development of the city, I can see why more people are choosing Birmingham over London’.
Birmingham Future has also played a part in helping Amrita settle into a new business environment, with Speed Networking sessions and opportunities to mingle with the great and the good of the city.
When I challenged Amrita on how Birmingham could continue to attract new talent, and to develop them while they are here, her answer was clear. ‘The city needs to continue to attract the traditionally London based firms here, to give graduates the option of choosing Birmingham rather than heading to London. It’s a choice that I think many of them would make. I would also like to see the development of a greater social scene in the city. As a great University city, Birmingham does lack the after bar venues you see in other cities.’
In all Amrita is proud to call herself an adopted Brummie, and the city is delighted to welcome her into her new working environment. With talent like Amrita making the choice to work in Birmingham, the future for the city, and the individuals who choose to make it home, continues to look bright.

Jason Norris, Chair of the Talent, Retention & Development Committee and Membership Committee member.

The New Graduate Apprentice – Emily Williams checks in…

A week after starting as the Graduate Apprentice and I’m starting to settle in. I was really quite nervous the night before my first day in the office, but I had no reason to be! The people that I’m working with are really nice, and are happy to help me with the many questions that I’ve got! I spent a couple of days in London, doing an induction, and then my first couple of days in the office were mainly training based. But now I’m doing more work, and I’m enjoying it. There’s a lot to learn, but I look forward to the challenge that it brings me.

As I’ve only been at Deloitte for a week, and am concentrating hard on getting to grips with everything, I haven’t had much time to think about the next placements. But it will be very interesting to see how the different organisations work, and what role I have in each of them. It’s definitely going to be an exciting year!

I feel proud to be the Graduate Apprentice, especially at such a difficult time. I really want to give it my all, have an open mind whilst at each placement, and get the best from it all. I don’t know what I’ll be doing this time next year, but I know that whatever it is, I’ll definitely have an advantage, having been the Graduate Apprentice. The experience and skills I will gain, I am sure will be vital to me, for the future. I have been told, and can well believe, that the year will fly by. However, as much as I want to learn from it, I also want to enjoy it, and I have already seen that there are plenty of people on hand to help me do this. Let’s hope it goes well!

Birmingham Future appoints the fourth Graduate Apprentice…

Graduates are facing a difficult time in securing jobs during the recession so it became great news to twenty one year old Emily Williams when she was announced this week as Birmingham Future’s fourth Graduate Apprentice.

This year’s successful candidate overcame a field of seventy other graduates all hoping to be given the unique opportunity to experience three diverse sixteen week placements within the city’s professional sector.

Emily, from Coventry, has recently graduated from Lancaster University with a first in mathematics and will start her year as the Graduate Apprentice in September with Deloitte in Birmingham. She will also enjoy placements with the HR department of Matthew Boulton and Sutton Coldfield Colleges as they prepare for the merger of the two colleges to form Birmingham Metropolitan College before completing her year with business consultants, VC Consulting.

Emily is the fourth Graduate Apprentice and the first female to be given the unique opportunity to sample three diverse working environments during a structured year since the innovative scheme was launched in 2006 by Birmingham Future.

The programme is run by the organisation’s Talent Retention and Development Committee and supported by Graduate Advantage.

Emily recently visited all three of the placement companies and enjoyed a tour of the city that will become her home and was excited at the prospect that lies ahead;

“Very few of my university friends have managed to secure a graduate job so I am even more excited and pleased to be given this unique opportunity. Like so many other students, I was unsure of the exact direction I wanted to take after leaving university which is why the Graduate Apprentice programme is so appealing.

“I will now have the opportunity to experience three different working environments and with three very different projects to work on. I shall get to know how a major business operates at Deloitte, be involved with Matthew Boulton and Sutton Coldfield Colleges at a highly important and significant time in their development and find out about life in an SME at VC Consulting. I know this will be a fantastic journey.”

Chair of Birmingham Future’s Talent Retention and Development Committee, Anthony McCourt commented;

“Congratulations to Emily on becoming the latest Graduate Apprentice. The introduction of the Government’s new Graduate Internship Programme highlights the importance they are putting on work placements. The Graduate Apprentice, which has been acknowledged as an innovative scheme by leading politicians, goes one step further by offering three diverse placements which gives a far broader view of the opportunities that exist within professional services. This year’s applications were the strongest we have seen which reflects clearly that this opportunity both excites and stimulates graduates.

“During these challenging economic times, I am delighted we are able to continue to offer this unique programme which is only possible due to the continuing support of our placement firms and Graduate Advantage.”

Future Debate – How is Young Professional Confidence?

With all the furore and column inches devoted to MPs expenses, the rise of fringe parties and Susan Boyle, the financial crisis and its implications for British business have ostensibly taken a back seat. Birmingham Future and its newly reprised Debates committee hoped to bring the issue back into the spotlight with the first of several debates focusing on the issues affecting Birmingham’s young professional community. Taking place on a balmy summer’s evening at Bevan Brittan as an open forum session (rather like Question Time, though with an audience less likely to heckle), the motion hoped to address a topic close to every young professional in Birmingham: can we be confident about the city’s ability to weather the financial crisis?