Busy Busy Busy

I’ve been quite busy over the last couple of weeks, hence the lack of posts. But I shall try to catch up!

I had last Monday off work, which was quite nice, and had my driving test, which was not quite so nice. In fact, considering that I failed, it was not very nice at all! Nerves got the better of me, and I made a silly mistake. However, I have recovered now, and am fine about it. I now know what to expect from the next one, and hopefully, will be ok then! Fingers crossed anyway.

I took part in the Deloitte quiz last week also, which was good fun. Although when I say took part, it was more listening to Jason and the other guy in our team come out with all the answers! We didn’t win, but we did pretty well, especially considering that we were a small team. And apparently we had the highest score per individual, because we were smaller than the other teams, so very succesful! It was a fun night anyway, and for charity, so it was good.

Lots of preparation has been going into the Christmas Deloitte meeting. The topic of which is still remaining top-secret, but it will require me to have a lunchtime beverage beforehand so I can do what I need to do! Hopefully it will all be good fun, although I think people will be laughing at us a lot more than with us!

I helped Ben and Craig at a careers recruitment event at Birmingham City University this week. It’s a little surreal, promoting my job to people, when it feels like I’ve only just started (when in fact I’ve nearly finished the first placement!). It reminded me of looking for graduate jobs this time last year. I don’t envy anybody trying it, but the more you apply for, the more experience you will gain, and this is very useful. We got quite a few people who seemed quite interested in the scheme, so hopefully we’ll have some good applications this year. I was also asked if I would mind being filmed, by a group of final year students, who were making a piece on career events. I’m starting to feel like a celebrity now with the photo shoots and tv experiences the Graduate Apprentice scheme has led me to! The group are going to email me the finished product when they’ve done it, so we shall see then how it turned out!

Thursday night was a TRaD night out, which was good fun. Because normally the committee meetings are at 8am, when people are not always fully awake, and also rushing off afterwards to get to work, it was nice to socialise with people, and get to know them better.

A long weekend for me this weekend, as I had yesterday off, and I also have Monday off. A lot of yesterday was filled with searching around for a new savings account, which hopefully I have now found, but when people were asking me about mortgages and things, I felt quite grown up! I was supposed to start my Christmas shopping, but this descended into shopping for myself instead, which was nice Monday is when it may start…

Catching up

I realise it’s been a while since I last posted on here, however, it’s been quite busy lately!

Almost two weeks ago I attended the Cobbett’s Young Professionals Spooky Sushi Event. I didn’t know anybody attending, aside from my mentor, Nick, but I had a really good time and met some interesting people, one of whom I have already seen a couple of times since, which has been nice.

I’ve had a lot of socialising to do lately which has been lots of fun. I’ve been catching up with old friends, and meeting new ones. I’ve attended a Halloween party, and had another Friday free drinks night. Unlike the first one, I now know my colleagues a lot better, and that was a fun night! This week there is a quiz night, hosted by Deloitte, which should be interesting! I’m not too good at quizzes, but I’m sure we will all try our best! The quiz is supporting the Alzheimer’s Society. I have a lot of personal experience with Alzheimer’s Disease, and I think this is a very good cause to help.

 

Public Transport

Ah, the joys of public transport. I have always defended public transport to my friends, having always been quite a frequent user of buses and trains. In fact it wasn’t that long since I started learning to drive (I have my test very soon and am quite nervous!). For me, I never felt the need to learn to drive as soon as I turned 17, and was very much in the minority with my peers there. Yes, public transport has its inconveniences, but long-term it is cheaper and potentially handy.

Until the delays start. I’ve had a very unfortunate week with trains this week. On Wednesday my usual 25 minute train journey turned into a 1.5 hour train journey. And all because of “signalling problems”, which is what the problem always seems to be (although once the driver did announce that the train was going to have to terminate at the next station because the next driver had not turned up for work – nothing like brutal honesty eh?). Anyway, the train was stop, start, stop, stop, stop, start, stop again. And then got cancelled at Birmingham International, and so there was a mass intrusion onto a train heading to Holyhead, for us folk to get to Birmingham New Street. Going home that night, the journey was fine, so I assumed the problem was fixed. Until I got on the train the next morning, and ended up being delayed by about 25 minutes. However, this driver told us that the problem was because some annoying people had stolen the line side cable near to Berkswell. This was the cable that powered the signals, hence the delays. A little further into the journey he told us that it was fixed; a generator had been brought in (let’s assume not on the train else it would have taken even longer). A friend of mine was returning to Coventry from Birmingham that night, and experienced delays again, because of signalling problems at Berkswell. Grrrrr. So, come Friday morning, I left my house at 7, to ensure I would get to work on time, and luckily I did. Although my usual train was running late, and I was on a train that was running late too, but worked out ok for me. Although not for some of the other passengers.

I understand that there will inevitably sometimes be delays with trains and buses etc., but keeping people informed is vital. On the train that I was on on Wednesday morning, people were starting to get very frustrated and angry. I’ve no doubt that a few complaints will have been sent in this week.

On Thursday morning, I looked at the board detailing the departure times of the forthcoming trains. Of the 9 on there, 4 were cancelled, 3 were running late, 1 was a rail replacement bus, and there was one train that was running on time. Good service there.

I know that  unfortunately there are accidents on the road, and so delays are going to happen there. But people pay a lot of money to travel by public transport and expect a good service. Generally, I find it works well. But when it doesn’t, it can be a disaster.

After my very eventful week, the extra hour in bed this morning was very gratefully received!!

Half way through…

I cannot believe that I am now at the half way point of my placement at Deloitte. It’s quite scary how quickly it’s gone, and also that I only have 8 weeks left there. I feel very settled now, and am really getting into the work. Hopefully I’m making a good impression with everybody!

I had an interesting meeting this week with the other new starters, and a couple of more senior colleagues. Every year at a Christmas meeting, the new starters have to put on a performance, tax related. Last year, the group did a Blind Date sketch, with the most suitable date being the one most knowledgeable about tax, Our theme is top secret until the day, but it should be very entertaining!

I attended a Welcome lunch this week, for people new to Birmingham Future. This was a really good event, and I really enjoyed it. I met a few interesting people, and have arranged to meet one of them for a catch up in a few weeks, which should be really useful.

I also have the Cobbetts Young Professionals event on this week, which I’m looking forward to. It will be good to meet some people like me, and hopefully will be an entertaining night!

A busy week

A busy week this week, and although enjoyable, certainly very tiring. It started with a nice 8am start on Monday morning at the Mailbox, for the TRaD committee meeting, which was very interesting, and I enjoyed. It’s nice to see the Graduate Apprentice from the other side this year, and as we’re starting to prepare for next years applicants, I’m looking forward to getting involved with this.

I had my second meeting with Nick, my mentor on Tuesday, and it was nice to catch up. He’s invited me to a Young Professionals event, to be held soon, which should be a good evening. And a good chance to met some new people too.

On Friday I had a day off, as I was going back up to Lancaster, to do a careers talk to the maths department. It was interesting to see everything getting greener as I travelled up the country, and also the weather improving too, which is ironic, as I’m sure that for the three years that I was there it was mainly wet and windy! It was really nice to go back up there again, and going through the usual stations, as I got closer I had a feeling of excitement that I can only liken to the first time I went back to Coventry in my first year. You’re recognising little things that you’d forgotten, and really looking forward to seeing people and places that you’ve missed.

The talk went well – I kept it quite informal and chatty, as I knew quite a few people who turned up. I hope that people learned something from it, and enjoyed hearing about what I have been up to. It was really good to catch up with old friends, see familiar faces, and be back in the department. I would like to thank my careers tutor, Idris, for inviting me up there, and for the chat we had afterwards too.

I spent the afternoon catching up with old friends, and a good couple of hours in my old workplace, the Uni Chippy. It was great to see my old boss again, and I was serving people like I’d never been away! The whole weekend felt like that, I almost felt like I could be back there straight away – I have lots of friends still there, and although the place has changed slightly with new construction work, it was still the place that I recognised as being home for the last three years of my life. I had some really good times there, and it brought a lot of happy memories back. I also didn’t realise how much I’d missed it until I was back there.

It was great to see some old friends again, and I realised that your best friends are the ones that you don’t have to see all the time to remain best friends. Over the couple of days I was up north (I went to Preston on Saturday afternoon to catch up with another best friend), I saw three of my best friends, all of whom I haven’t seen for quite a while. However, it was just like we’d never been apart, and we just had more to catch up on than usual! You know that they’re good friends when they know when you need them, and know when you need some space to work things out. You also realise that people you thought you were pretty good friends with, and now find it slightly difficult to go any further than the usual conversation topics, have moved on, just like you have, and that’s fine too. Your perception of some people changes as well ,maybe they’re not quite who you remember them as being.

All in all, it was brilliant to go back up there again, and although I realised just how much I missed it, I remember that I did feel ready to leave, and how much I’m enjoying my job here. I’m certainly not going to leave it so long before visiting again, and look forward to next time

Emily Williams AMIMA

Had my first piece of post from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications today, of which I am now an associate member. This was a prize after winning an award for my degree results. As sad as it may be, it was exciting to see Miss E Williams AMIMA on the envelope!

Catching up

It’s been a while since I last updated things on here, with one thing and another, it’s been a busy time lately.

A little while ago now I met up with Nick, my assigned mentor. He was really nice, and we got on well. Our first meeting was a ‘getting to know each other’ one really, and we’re meeting up again this week.

Wednesday was the Welcome to Birmingham event for new graduates to Birmingham, hosted by Birmingham Future. It went off really well, and I enjoyed it all. A couple of weeks ago, I took part in a fashion shoot, for a supplement in the Birmingham Post, as part of the Welcome to Birmingham event. I did this with Jason Norris, Graduate Apprentice 2007, and Katie White, who is involved in the B Hive scheme. This was really fun to do, and something different from preparing tax returns! We all modelled two different outfits, and Katie and I had our make up done, which was nice The photos turned out really well, and hopefully will have been seen by everybody who attended the event on Wednesday night, if they read their supplement!

Although the Welcome to Birmingham event has only been going for a few years, it is really successful, and hopefully everybody that attended got something valuable out of it. Paul Thandi, chief executive of the NEC Group did a very impressive speech which was very well received, as well as Sarah Gee, and her fun networking game. With over 200 new graduates there, I hope that everybody managed to learn a few new names, and get involved with some of the different groups that were there, Birmingham Future included. I heard lots of people discussing the Big Sleepout, organised by St Basils, and hopefully they will all take part.

Birmingham is a great place for new graduates to work. There is always something going on there, and something for everyone too. Even though I was quite far away when I was at uni, I always knew that I wanted to come back to the Midlands and work, and I’m really glad that I have. There are lots of opportunities to get involved in things outside of work, which is important, and hopefully people will be settling in now.

I am still enjoying my time at Deloitte, even though it’s whizzing by! We have some new graduates in our department now, and they’re all a really nice bunch, as is everybody there. The Annual Dinner was held at the ICC last weekend, and that was a fun night. Wild West themed, it was really good fun! I even attempted the Bucking Bronco after a few glasses of wine! And I was quite proud of my 9 seconds too! Everybody there has made me feel really welcome, and like part of the team. I had a meeting with my Performance Manager on Thursday, and we set some objectives, some which look more easy to achieve than others, but it’ll be good to see how well I can do with them.

I’m going back up to Lancaster on Friday to do a careers talk to the maths department, which I’m really looking forward to. I remember well sitting there, listening to people speak, and having no idea about what I wanted to do in the future, so hopefully I’ll be able to offer some valuable advice to the current students. And it will be good to see some old faces too

Settling in…

So, having been with Deloitte for the best part of two weeks now, I’m starting to feel settled. The first couple of days were spent down in London, doing an induction. Apart from a disastrous train journey down there, it went ok. I felt a little apprehensive the night before starting in Birmingham however, I think due to the amount of information we were given and worrying that I wasn’t going to be good enough! I needn’t have worried though, as it was all fine and everybody was really, really nice. Everybody’s helped me to find my feet and made settling in easier. We’ve been out a few times already, and I look forward to the next event!

I also attended my first Birmingham Future committee meeting this week, which was really interesting. The Graduate Welcome event is coming up soon (7th October), and so the meeting was mainly about the planning of this. It should be a good event, and I look forward to getting to know everybody a little better

The only problem I’m having with work so far is that I’m finding it so tiring! Although it’s not a long journey from Coventry to Birmingham, I’m still out for 12 hours of the day, and getting up at 5:30, which, teamed with going out to do something or other on quite a few evenings, is quite tiring! But I’m sure it’s just a case of adjusting to it, and given time, I’ll be ok.

I’m meeting with my mentor on Tuesday which I’m looking forward to. I think it’s a good idea to be teamed with somebody outside of your profession, and hopefully we’ll get on well!

Summer

Only a few days now before I start at Deloitte, and I’m starting to get nervous! At the same time I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in to everything, and meeting lots of new people. I’m also looking forward to having some sort of routine again, as so far, the summer has been quite random and unplanned. Highlights include:

Graduation – after working for the University of Warwick within their graduation preparation team for the past 4 years, graduating myself was something I was really looking forward to. It was great to be up in Lancaster again, and to see loads of my friends. The rain held off until I was in my ceremony, which was lucky, and it was a really good day, with my family and friends there. Congratulations to all who have graduated this summer

Numerous shopping trips, after all, a new wardrobe was needed in preparation for starting as The Graduate Apprentice. However, now a new wardrobe is actually needed, as I don’t have enough space for all of my clothes… Oh well!

Fun trips to see friends and places, including Pocklington, Wakefield, Leicester, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry. I also went to London to see Sister Act,  The Musical, as a 21st birthday present, and it was amazing! Also we went on the London Eye and went around Madame Tussauds waxwork museum. Got some interesting photos there!

Holiday to Rhodes, or more precisely, Faliraki. On a 1830 holiday. Which initially I thought was not going to be my cup of tea, but actually turned out to be brilliant! After arriving at about 5am and refusing to be persuaded by the rep to part with 179 Euros to go out with them, we had a few drinks and just stayed up all day. We went out and did something every night, although not every night was a heavy night! We saw a hypnotist, which was interesting, and went to a funfair which was cool, although possibly not the best idea after we stood outside for about half an hour watching some people get rescued from a broken down ride! We did a banana boat cruise to some caves, paragliding and a crazy UFO inflatable thing. Our hotel was really nice; luckily we were placed in the new block that was only a year old. I would definitely go back there again

Driving – am now ready to to do my test apparently! I’m not looking forward to that but am looking forward to being able to drive my car without someone else having to be with me!

Lunch/Meal with Craig, and then Jason and Mayur. Both of these went well, and have got me looking forward even more so to starting. Like I said, I’m quite nervous, but I really am looking forward to it. I want to go in with an open mind, give the job my all, and see what happens. I can only try my best!

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time catching up with some old friends, which I’ve really enjoyed

Am starting on Tuesday for Deloitte, for the first couple of days I’m going down to London for some training, so we will see how it goes!

You’re Hired!

I’ve been back in Coventry now for a few days, and Thursday was the day of the You’re Hired event, where I would get to meet all of my employers for next year. They were all extremely nice and I’m looking forward even more to starting now!

The day started off by meeting Craig, from Birmingham Futire. We travelled to Sutton Coldfield College first, and we were both very impressed with the building! Their proposed merger with Matthew Boulton College has been accepted now, so soon they will be together. I met Amenda and her team, who all seemed very nice indeed! I had a nice chat with them all, and all too soon it was time to move on!

We then went to Birmgham, and had a little wander before going to visit VC Consulting. I met both of the directors, Shihab and Lawrence, and their other colleague, Chris. They had a much smaller office space, as they spend a lot of their time elsewhere, visiting clients. Shihab explained a little about their history, and what they’re doing now, which was interesting, and then it was time to move on again.

We went straight to Deloitte (in the heat – it was a really really hot day), and we met Jason, who was the Graduate Apprentice 2007, and who now works for Deloitte, and his colleague, Tessa. Jason and I had a good chat, with him giving me lots more information about what being the Apprentice is like, having done it himself, and then we had a walk into the office, where I met some more people. The contrast between Deloitte and VC Consulting, sizewise, was interesting!

We then went to Victoria Square, where it was time for the photo shoot. I had been quite warm throughout the day, but it was all ok. We attracted some interesting looks from passers by, but I think we all enjoyed ourself, especially Amenda! The photos will appear here soon!

We then all went up to Bar One Ten, for a drink or two, and a cool down. Here I met so many people, all of whom knew me but I had some difficulties with names! Everybody that I met seemed really nice, and I look forward to getting to know them all better soon.

On to Asha’s, a lovely Indian restaurant not fair away, for a good meal and a few debates!

Overall I had a great day, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Everybody that I met was really nice, friendly, and down to earth, and they all made me feel more at ease. The day whole day made moe more excited for starting in September, and although unfortunately Mayur couldn’t be there, it was great to meet Jason. I just hope I can live up to their reputation!