Jason Norris’ Blog

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.