Gradvice – Starting Your Career in Birmingham! -Helena King

Whether you attend one of Birmingham’s fantastic Universities or you call the city home, many recent graduates and young professionals don’t seem to see Birmingham as the place to begin their career. Yet the UK’s second largest city has so much to offer. With that big city vibe, Birmingham has plenty of opportunities for young professionals across an array of sectors and a really supportive and inclusive business community.
With the biggest concentration of Professional Services firms outside of the capital, Birmingham offers so many options for new graduates and these opportunities are only growing. Some of the most notable corporates to relocate to Birmingham recently include Deutsche Bank and HS2, with HSBC choosing the city as the location for its new Ring-Fenced Bank. These companies are always looking for bright young professionals and with the huge array of growing SMEs in the city as well, there has never been a better time to start your career in Birmingham.
While the second largest city may seem imposing in scale, the business community is incredibly inclusive and supportive of young talent. There are plenty of networking events that are solely aimed at young professionals at the start of their career and offer the opportunity to socialise with people of similar age and experience. On top of this, many of the top business professionals in the city like to engage and support this group, giving you the chance to listen to talks from and speak face-to-face with directors and leaders in your chosen sector. With all this support behind new talent in the city, there is always an opportunity for those who really want to make a name for themselves and further their career.
Birmingham is in the middle of a period of huge change, with record levels of tourism and inward investment. A multitude of global companies are choosing this time to relocate and expand within the city and it has just been voted the most entrepreneurial city in the UK as well as the youngest city in Europe. It speaks volumes on the importance the city puts on young people that BYPY (Birmingham Young Professional of the Year), an award ceremony all about celebrating the success of young business professionals, is one of, if not the, biggest event in the business community calendar. This is a city that believes and relies on young talent and now is the time to make a difference and start your career here.