e-bulletin June 2006

Please send us your ideas on how we could improve this e-bulletin or topics you would like to see covered, by emailing the editor Ruth Marshall on ruth.marshall@schmakk.com

News & Events

Chairman’s Message

May has been another incredibly busy month for Birmingham Future. Many of you will have been at BYPY and, hopefully, enjoyed the evening. I would like to add my congratulations to Ruth Ward, this year's overall winner, and to Christine Braddock who took the Inspiring Leader award. I would also like to acknowledge the huge amount of work put in by Joy Stefanicki and her team in organising such an outstanding event.

In amongst the BYPY hype, and the press coverage around us recruiting our 500th member, you may have missed the appointment of our first Graduate Apprentice - see below for more details. A new initiative this year, led by Baz Chapman and our Graduates into Employment team. We were inundated with applications for the position and I would like to congratulate our first Graduate Apprentice, Darvinder Kang. I look forward to hearing more and how he gets on in his year's experiences.

BYPY Winner

Congratulations to Ruth Ward, Director of PR firm Neon Communications, who was crowned Birmingham Young Professional of the Year 2006. The 26-year-old, has seen her company grow from one member of staff to four in just 18 months was presented with her award at the glittering ceremony on 17 May.

A big thank you to all those that supported the event, including this year’s sponsors Wragge & Co, Pertemps, Lloyds TSB Corporate, Crosby, the Territorial Army, Grant Thornton and West Bromwich Building Society.
Click Here to read the full story and for a list of the other category winners.

500th member

Birmingham Future’s celebrating after recruiting its 500th member.

Craig Edmondson is the Financial Accountant at The General Teaching Council for England. He originally joined the organisation a few years ago, playing an active role in the marketing team, but had to leave when he took up his new post. To read more click here.

Birmingham Future in the community

If you would like to find out more about the Birmingham Future Community Programme and how you can help make a difference, please contact Alex Bishop on 08700 864188, alex.bishop@shoosmiths.co.uk.

Graduate Apprentice 2006

Darvinder Kang, a 20-year-old Business Studies & Information Management undergraduate from Burton-upon-Trent, has been named the Graduate Apprentice 2006.

Darvinder decided to break away from the tradition of working in his Sikh family’s business (with their backing), and became the first member of his family ever to attend university. He is passionate about the West Midlands and working in the professional and financial services sector. He is hugely enthusiastic and is really keen to tell his story and to inspire other young Asians to better themselves.

As sole winner of the title, Darvinder will commence his first 4-month placement at Deloitte in mid-June, before moving on to Heartlands Hospital to experience the rigours of NHS Finance, and then for something completely different, will be pitched into the thick of things from day one as Stef Lewandowski takes him on board as a project manager at 3form.

Events update

Our next Meet and Mix Lunch is being held on 5 June 2006 at Penny Blacks. This fully booked event will see the launch of Birmingham Future's very own community programme. In conjunction with Education Business Links, this will be aimed at enabling Birmingham Future members to play a part in raising the aspirations and motivations of the region's youngsters with a view to encouraging more of our home grown young talent to consider the professional, financial and creative services sector in Birmingham as a career choice.

Personal Branding is the next event to be held as part of the Successful Development workshops on 26th June. The event will highlight ways in which we advertise ourselves to the outside world and how to draw attention to our strengths through confidence and style! This event is kindly being hosted by Eversheds LLP. To reserve your place and further details please click here.

Members Special Offer

The Radisson SAS Hotel, is offering Birmingham Forward & Birmingham Future members a special 2 for 1 lunch in the Filini Restaurant with a glass of champagne on arrival until 7th July. To take advantage of this great offer, please look out for the vouchers at both Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future events or pop into the Birmingham Forward/Future office at One Victoria Square.

For those of you looking for a pit stop lunch, The Filini Restaurant also runs a rapido 3 course lunch for £13.50 which is served within 45 minutes.

Cinderella Cities: Tales of Modern Urban Renaissance

ULI - the Urban Land Institute is a non-profit research and education organisation supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment.

They are holding a one half day conference in the city of Birmingham and will take place during ‘Chicago Showcase Week’, which celebrates the sister city partnership between the cities of Birmingham and Chicago, Illinois, USA.

The ULI are pleased to offer Birmingham Future members complimentary registration (subject to availability). All attendees must be pre-registered to take advantage of this offer. Please clearly state 'Birmingham Future' the when registering in order to gain your complimentary admission.

Members can register using the fax back registration form, by visiting the website www.europe.uli.org, telephoning the office on 020 7487 9570 or emailing lhughes@uli.org.

Future Pro Tender

Future Pro Tender Birmingham Future’s Graduates into Employment Committee seeks to tender for the following to work on its 2006 future-pro events at regional universities, which deliver skills workshops and create interface between final year students and their local employers:-

Marketing & Pr Agency A Birmingham Forward member firm with a proven track record in marketing major events, with exciting ideas for attracting decision-makers from companies and attending students from across the West Midlands. Budget (including agency fee) of £19,000+vat.

Event Management A freelance individual or organisation with experience of planning and delivering successful major events. Responsibilities include liaising with venues and companies, and working with project funders on monitoring and finance. Fee of £14,000+vat.

NB. We would be pleased to hear from organisations who feel equipped to deliver both of these services (£33,000+vat)

Are you happy in your job?

Birmingham Future is working with Caret, the international leadership and strategy consultancy, to research the values and aspirations of young professionals in the city. National research suggests that many people of our age are having a 'quarter-life crisis' and considering changing careers to do something that adds greater purpose to their lives.

Does this ring bells with you? Or are you happy at work? Whichever way, please help us by completing our short survey which will be e-mailed to you tomorrow. Individual results will be treated in the strictest confidence. We will use the overall results to help the city's employers create the sort of workplace you want, and to shape Birmingham Future's plans for the coming year.

Birmingham Future, One Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BD
Telephone: +44 (0)121 632 2200 Fax: +44 (0)121 632 2201