The end of the road

Friday brought about my final day with Stef, which being my third placement as the Apprentice, also marked my final day as the 2007 Graduate Apprentice.  Its been a long year, but a truly fantastic one, which has completely gone beyond all of my initial expectations.

I had two fantastic placements with Deloitte and LMM, and now can look back on what was another brilliant experience.  During the sixteen weeks with Stef, I worked on a huge range of projects, getting involved in the Big City Plan, working on Digital Media events as well as working with clients of 3Form.  However, the main project was Stef’s new idea, Odadeo.  Odadeo is all about Dads, its social network with a difference. Highly interactive and highly useful, I have been working with the beta testing Dads for the last few weeks, finding out what they want from the site, how they use it, and then turning it into development points for Stef to work on.  I’ve been writing legal documents, been coming up with ideas for our pitch, and recently, making video walkthroughs of various features, so that new users can see what the site is all about.

I’m very sad to be leaving Odadeo, I truly do think that its a fantastic idea, which will take off.  I hope to look back at the project in a few months and say that I was a part of it.  It could be the next big thing on the web.

But more than that, I have worked from Stef’s home over the last four months, and I’m thankful that Emily, Imogen and Stef allowed me into their home.  I have learnt so much, much more than I could have imagined that I would.  At times the work has been varied and difficult, but at all times its been the challenge and experience that I expected as the Graduate Apprentice.  Stef is a unique individual, creating ideas from nothing, and it was great to be part of that process.  I am sure that I am a more creative individual because of it.

I now head back to Deloitte, to being my life as a International Tax Associate.  I worked in the same department as the Apprentice, which is why I am sure that there will be people around to help me settle back in.  

Looking back on my year as the Graduate Apprentice is tough to do, I still haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that its no longer my role but I can say this.  As a new Graduate last June, I was lost, unsure of a career path and lacking direction.  I assumed that something would come up… well it did.  The Apprentice has given me a diverse range of business experience, its shown me career paths I never knew existed and taught me how to go about achieving what I want from life.  But more than that, I have had a year working with absolutely fantastic people, both directly and indirectly.  I have met people who are going to be key in the city for many years to come, and my hope is that I can also play my role in the years to come.  To my employers, Deloitte, LMM, and Odadeo, thank you.  There are too many individuals to mention, but I will be taking the time to individually email them all. 

So here’s to looking forward, and a new daily motto, Challenge Yourself… something I aim to do every day.

Introducing Mayur

Sitting on the balcony on a summer’s evening is a great way to contemplate how far things have progressed this year.  I began my role as the Graduate Apprentice 2007 back on the 17th September of last year, and almost 11 months later, its time to begin thinking about handing on the role.  With that, I have been thinking a lot about the time that I have had, the things I’ve learnt this year, and importantly, the fantastic people that have helped me to embed myself within this fantastic city.  There will be a further blog post later on, once I’ve had time to evaluate everything that has happened, and to thank each individual concerned.

But right now, its time to introduce the next Apprentice, Mayur Murali.  Mayur was selected back in June, after an extremely tough interview process.  He instantly accepted the role, and I have every confidence that he is going to take this fantastic opportunity to even greater heights. I wish him the very best of luck in what I know will be a truly amazing year.

So below please meet the team for the Graduate Apprentice 2008.  Mayur will be undertaking placements with Deloitte, in the same team that I will be re-joining as a full time Graduate.  He will then move on to work with Giles and the team at LMM, where there are some more challenging projects lined up for him.  Finally, Mayur will work with the new placement, VC Consulting, who we are thrilled to have as part of the set up.  Much like me, there are three very seperate challenges, where I know he will be given a fantastic insight into the professional services world.  Pictured below (left to right) are: Shihab Hossain, VC Consulting Director, Rachel Hewson of Deloitte, Giles Horwitch-Smith, CEO of LMM and Mayur himself.

Mayur will be continuing the trend of blogging his experience as the Graduate Apprentice, but right now, you can read a little more about how he reacted to being offered the role.  

For me, with about five weeks left, its time to begin thinking about what next… who am I, what is my next challenge…

Talking Apprentice

As is probably quite clear to everyone reading the blog, the Apprentice programme is something that I am passionate about.  The opportunity it has given me is unrivaled and has put me in an incredible position to go on and achieve a lot within this great city.

As my time as the Apprentice draws to an end, its time to start reflecting on the fantastic year that I’ve had, and to start talking about the programme.  I had one such opportunity with Biz TV recently, part of the Aston University set-up.  They were kind enough to interview about how I got the role, my three placements and my plans going forward.  Please take a look at the link below to hear me talk about my time.

Jason Norris as the Graduate Apprentice

Activ8 Graduates

There are some points during my year as the Graduate Apprentice where I have had the opportunity to begin giving something back to the fantastic Birmingham Community that has welcomed me with such open arms.  This morning, I was invited to speak about my role as the Apprentice as part of a breakfast with Graduates and employers.  Its organised by Clarke Associates and Graduate Advantage, with breakfast provided this morning by the fantastic Hogarths Hotel.  It was a very rare occasion in-fact, the two groups mixing when neither of them were trying to recruit… a very refreshing alternative.

I had to follow Anthony McCourt, one of my mentors, and the current Birmingham Young Professional of the Year, and boy is he a tough act to follow.  Firstly, he is only a year older than me, but he has achieved an incredible amount, but secondly and importantly, he is a fantastic advocate of the city, and much like me, having moved to Birmingham from outside, is now a fully fledged ‘adopted Brummie’.

But this morning was all about the Graduates at the event, all of them who were keen to find out how they can begin to build their personal brand, and about how they can find a job within the city that they really enjoy.  Just by being there, they were already taking one step on this journey, and I was truly humbled to be there and talk about my journey so far.  I was delighted that they listened, and I hope that some of them found what I said useful.

So my year as the Apprentice is almost coming to an end… but there is a lot more I plan to do yet.  Its event’s like this morning make it all worthwhile, where I really feel proud to be part of this fantastic city.

jasonnorris.co.uk!

Its been quite a journey with Stef, and only today we were talking about how much I have learnt in such a short space of time! I am still no-where near the level of technological knowledge of Web 2.0 that individuals such as Stef, but I do now have my own website.  I even set it up myself, made sure that my blog was pointing in the right direction, made sure that my URL is going to be found by search engines, and ensured that the servers were all in the right place (well, that took a little help from Stef).  But I have learnt a lot, and while jasonnorris.co.uk is actually only my blog, its a start.  I do plan to keep my record of my time as the Apprentice going after I complete my year and Mayur takes over the role, where it will become a more personal record of my time within Birmingham… and now I have the perfect place to do it.

The below appear no-where on my site, but it makes this post look a little easier on the eye, and means that I can play with Skitch, which I discovered last week!

So I’ve Finished My Book

Today was a good day, it was bright and sunny, I spent the morning clearing the paperwork and popping into town and then the afternoon was spent reading on the balcony.  I don’t get as much time as I would like to read anymore, which is probably why it has taken me so long to finish my current read, but I am glad that I stuck with it to the end.

The book has been mentioned before, as its one which I have been dipping in and out of for a while.  Its called ‘And Death Came Third‘ by Andy Lopata & Peter Roper.  The title comes from a study which ranked death as the third biggest fear, behind speaking in public and walking into a room full of strangers.  My mentor, Graham Nicoll, recommended this book to me at the beginning of our mentoring process, as one of my objectives for my year as the Apprentice was to develop my networking ability, and to understand more about the key role that relationships play in the business arena.  Networking was completely new to me in this sense, my only interaction with others before had been on a social basis.  However, it soon became clear after involvement with Birmingham Future, that networking plays a vital role in who you do business with, and therefore, I was sure that I needed to make myself the most effective networker I could.

Lopata & Roper’s book is an excellent starting point in this process, and through a range of tools, tips and techniques, it gives a fantastic overview of exactly how you can improve your ability to network.  A lot of people view networking as simply selling, and sign up to every event going in order to pick up a pile of business cards to then email with the corporate pitch.  However, I have never been comfortable with this tactic, perhaps because at heart I’m not really a sales person, but secondly because I don’t believe that I could sell to someone I knew nothing about, or sell a product which I was not completely comfortable with.

My year has actually worked very well in terms of networking, because while I attend a number of events, I actually have nothing to sell, so my only viewpoint is to talk about what I am doing during my year as the Graduate Apprentice, and to therefore effectively sell my role.  Its has been about building relationships with a number of people within the city, from a variety of organisations and professions.  It has given me a unique insight into these firms, and hopefully I have begun some relationships which will develop into business over the coming years.

A lot of the information in the book could be deemed as common sense, but then again, and a point well made by the book, how often is ‘common sense’ actually common knowledge.  There are some fantastic tips for presenting yourself, ensuring that you manage the conversation effectively so that the person opposite you goes away remembering you.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am hoping that the multitude of skills I have learnt this year will benefit me in future life.  Either way, networking is a ‘people skill’ and ultimately wherever I end up, I will be working with people, so its a skill that I am sure to need.

So if your looking for a little advice on how to networking more effectively, whether its new to you or something you have done for years, I would highly recommend the book.  Its well written, to the point and contains information that you can actually use in the day to day environment… it may also increase your sales! 

So Far With Stef…

I’m just a little over two weeks into my final placement as the Apprentice, working with Stefan of 3Form, but I’m actually involved with a number of projects with Stef, some of which fall outside the scope of 3Form.  So far, the best way to describe my time is that of a roller-coaster ride.  What was obvious from day one is that Stef is a very unique guy, and by that I mean both the way in which he works and the passion that he has for what he does.  When we first met, we ran up a long list of the potential projects that I could be involved with, from the creative design work of 3Form, project managing the various clients that are using Stef’s design skills to create a new image for their company to the not-for-profit initiatives that he works on.  I’ve met some fantastic people from Creative Republic, met some high profile clients (and helped to pitch to them!) as well as helping to book tickets to New York for Stef to pick up his Webby.

But that says nothing about the biggest project we have been working on.  Stef is right in the middle of a new start-up, the culmination of an idea that came to him about 18 months ago.  I’m lucky to be involved at the stage where this idea is just about ready to be launched.  Its still a little hush-hush, but its the kind of thing that once is out there, will be something that we are always talking about.  My role is to help Stef to get this off the ground, getting the right people involved at the right time, and to offer a fresh perspective to the ideas that Stef has.  So far its been going really well, we have had some really productive days, and we are just about on target for our anticiptated launch date.  The whole project will actually be launched by Stef in New York, as part of Internet Week.  I wont be there unfortunately, my role will be back in Birmingham!  

The idea of my year as the Apprentice was to learn as much as possible about three very different types of business. So far, Deloitte have given me a fantastic insight into the world of International Tax, given me some real thinking points about how I work and shown me the reality of working for a global company.  LMM was a unique and great experience of how a medium sized SME company works within a developing market, how decisions are made in a small firm, and taught me huge amounts about a market which was completely new to me.  Now, with Stef, I am part of a new company start up, seeing how an idea becomes a business proposition, as well as using my project management skills to help ensure that a variety of different projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the objectives defined by the client.

Its the best graduate job I could have dreamed of, I am completely confident of that, and I would doubt if any graduate of 2007 has had half of the experience that I have been lucky enough to have gained to date.  I’ve only got 14 weeks or so left as the Apprentice, and I have a lot more to learn from Stef, but I’m delighted to know that whatever happens in September, I will have made a real difference to my future career.  The truth is that I am lucky that all of this is happening in my new adopted home, Birmingham, a place where I will be for a long time with opportunities like this.

Living in the Real World

Back at the beginning of April, I was asked to complete a questionnaire on what it was like to be a graduate living in the West Midlands, something which is actually very new to me, but something which as the Graduate Apprentice, I have a unique opportunity to shout about.

I am passionate about the area, living in the city centre has been fantastic for both Laura and I to date, and I could not recommend it more highly to anyone.  I described living in Birmingham as “Offering the perfect balance between a professional and personal lifestyle” and I stand by that.  If you want to get involved in the city, there are a number of ways you can, but if you just want to work hard and play hard, Birmingham has the answers.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to be featured in Real World Magazine, something which goes out to graduates across the country.  It even features the name associated with the Apprentice, Sir Alan, on the front cover.  I would just like to point out that the Graduate Apprentice is not part of the BBC programme, its something totally different all-together.  But it does provide some great press coverage for what is a fantastic role, so who am I to complain.  You can read the full magazine here, scroll through to page 36 to see the interview.

Leaving LMM…

As the Graduate Apprentice, I always know that each placement will only last 16 weeks, so you think it would be easier to leave… You see there are many many many advantages to being in the role… the variety, the opportunity, the challenge to name but a few.  The 16 weeks are always a challenge, as there is ultimately a limited amount of time to complete the set projects.  I’m quite proud, and I would not feel good about any placement without finishing what I had promised.  However, the 16 weeks also mean that this is the second time in less than 8 months where I have had to leave some great people behind, people who were not only fantastic work colleagues, but fantastic people to know.

During my time at LMM, I was involved in a number of projects.  Perhaps the most substantial was the launch of the new brand, CityQuarters.  In a nutshell, this is the aim of LMM to create a network of Serviced Apartments across the UK.  For those not familiar with Serviced Apartments, its basically having your own space while away from home.  Serviced Apartments are regularly being seen as the flexible alternative to hotels, and because of the extra space, the separate living areas and the flexibility of being able to come and go as you please, it is easy to see why.  However, it is very difficult to ensure a standard level of service with the apartments, with an accreditation, similar to the hotel starring system, only just being introduced.  Giles, the CEO at LMM, and the person I reported to directly as the Apprentice, wants to create a standard, consistent, quality serviced apartment network, so that if you need to stay in a key business city in the UK, you can be sure that staying with CityQuarters provides the same excellent service from city to city. 

The second major project involved testing of a piece of software which linked the Accounting and Apartment Management software used by the company… given my organised nature, and my eye for detail, it was deemed that I would be the right person to complete all the testing and update the accounting system with all the information for the previous financial year.  This built a whole new range of skills, including patience at times, but I am pleased to say that I left the company with this project completed… Now we wait for the auditors to check my work and say they are happy with the import link! My role also involved selling the serviced offices, another side of the proposition from LMM, meaning I was responsible for following up leads, ensuring that current clients had all they required to keep them happy, and for ensuring that expiring leases were renewed.

The challenge however, was not the best thing about working with the company, it was again made up by the team of people that I worked with.  In a small office, relationships can sometimes be difficult, but each and every individual brought something very different to the office while I was there.  All very excellent at the role they fill, and always able to offer advice and support to me as someone who was completely new to it all.  Even though I asked lots of questions, and bored them all with stories of LEJOG, they welcomed me into their team, and I was privileged to have spent time with them all.

In all, LMM was about multi-tasking, about proving that I could work on a number of projects at the same time and still ensure that each one was delivered with maximum efficiency.  I hope that throughout my time I have been able to do that, and that I have upheld the reputation of the Graduate Apprentice.  My successor will also be taking on a placement with LMM, and I am sure that if they have half of the experience I have had, they will come out a much wiser, much more commercially aware and able Graduate.  Like me, they will also have made some fantastic friends, who again like me, they will be sure to keep in touch with.