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

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.

Being Selected as the Graduate Apprentice 2007

The day that I received a phone call in August to say that I had been selected to take on the role of Graduate Apprentice 2007 is one of those moments that I can say has actually changed my life. I was selected as only the second person to fill this role, taking over from Darvinder Kang who had a hugely successful year! I was delighted to know that I would be attempting to fill his shoes, and without hesitation I accepted.

The next few days were pretty hectic, arranging accommodation, signing contracts, working out what would actually make the trip from Devon to Birmingham, and most of all, shouting about my fantastic new opportunity to anyone who would listen!

The Graduate Apprentice is a unique and fantastic opportunity, and that is what attracted me to the role. While I had only come across the role via Laura’s Birmingham University Career’s Website, I had managed to fight off the competition and would now complete three 16 week placements at three very different firms. Deloitte would show me what working for a global giant was really like, LMM would give me the chance to work in a new and emerging market as part of a family run business, and 3Form would see me working with perhaps one of the most creative people you would ever meet. The whole experience would see me working heavily within Birmingham’s business community, and would allow me to develop my own network which would one day enable me to be part of the city’s success.

Back in August, I had no idea of the incredible roller coster ride that awaited me, and I could not be more excited about the chance I would have to make my mark on a fantastic city. My first role would be with Deloitte, in the International Tax Department… so my first job was to find out exactly what International Tax was all about…