Week ending 18th Jan 08

Hi all and Happy New Year,

With Christmas break and settling back into things – it's been a while since I've written a blog. In my last blog, I mentioned I was going to be attending a graduate networking event. The event was held in Edinburgh and it was great to see familiar faces and meet new graduates. Apart from being a good jolly, the networking event also provided the opportunity to meet business managers from various departments in Corporate. This was extremely useful, as I was gathering thoughts on areas of interest for my final placement. Once the free drinks and food had been consumed we (including a few die hard managers) moved on, as usual, to explore Edinburgh's night life. As always, this turned out to be a confusing affair involving a mass walk of Edinburgh before we ended up in a club. There, some people chatted and others threw some shapes before we dispersed at the end of the night.

Following the networking event, I carried out some research into placement areas I would like to experience and submitted my form. I'm hoping to hear the outcome of my placement in the next week or so! Once I have confirmation, I will have to begin the process of searching for accommodation once again. Though this can be a bit of a chore, I am looking forward to experiencing life in a different department and location.

Another key activity which took place before the Christmas break was my interim review. This gave my manager a chance to convey the team's thoughts on my performance to me. Equally it provided me with the opportunity to discuss the development activities I would like to fulfil before the end of the placement to him. Fortunately his comments were positive so I was able to relax that little bit more at our Christmas dinner. One of the highlights of the dinner was the speeches that all new members to the team had to deliver. For my speech, I just managed to reel off a few poor jokes. Lucky for me, most people were merrily drunk by then so I managed to get a few laughs.

It was nice going back home to the Midlands for Christmas and New Years. The first week back at work was tough but I'm now getting back into things as we are in the early stages of working on a few deals which may come to fruition.

As always, I will keep you posted on how things unfold.

Regards,

Vish.