B-Hive

Nurturing Birmingham's creative and marketing talent

The brainchild of recruitment specialists Pitch Consultants, B-Hive is recognised as one of the Midlands’ most innovative graduate recruitment initiatives, helping students to get a foot on the career ladder in the increasingly competitive creative industries.

2011 saw Pitch Consultants join forces with Business Birmingham to highlight the employment opportunities for graduates in Birmingham’s vibrant creative sector in a bid to retain young talent within the region. 

Since its launch in 2009 B-Hive has bought more opportunities to the region’s students year on year with 13 of the winners from previous competitions gaining permanent employment within the creative industries as a direct result of their B-Hive experience.

The B-Hive competition is open to undergraduates, recent graduates and postgraduate students across Birmingham’s five higher education institutions - University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, Aston University, Birmingham Metropolitan College and University College Birmingham. There are five categories in which entrants can compete - marketing, PR, advertising, graphic design and web design.

A wealth of talent

Neil Rami, Head of Business Birmingham, believes schemes like B-Hive highlight the wealth of creative talent across the city’s higher education institutions:

The calibre of entries this year, as ever, was extremely impressive and is testament to the fact our universities are home to a huge amount of creative talent. With over 12,500 digital and creative companies operating in the region, an increase of 30% since 2005, Birmingham’s creative industries are thriving.

The B-Hive competition is a key tool in retaining our young talent in the region, by demonstrating the vast amount of opportunities open to graduates in this exciting sector.

Ollie Purdom, Director of Pitch Consultants, who has over eight years experience recruiting within the creative sector:

This year we upped the ante with six more placements on offer and hope to continue to grow B-Hive for 2012, providing more opportunities for students wanting to break into this competitive sector.

It is incredibly difficult for students to get their first break in the creative industries, regardless of the economic climate, however, it has become more evident that those wishing to pursue a career in marketing, design or PR need to realise that their academic achievements might not be enough to secure a job straight after university.

B-Hive provides bright and determined students with the opportunity to prove themselves to panel of leading employers and thus fast track their way into the industry.

The 2011 competition saw 29 placements awarded to top entrants in each of the five categories, earning places at some of Birmingham's leading creative teams including Bullring, Cogent, Grayling, Golley Slater, McCann Erikson and Subaru.

For more information about B-Hive please visit www.bhive-creative.com

From left to right: Ollie Purdom, Director of Pitch Consultants, Jasmin Coll, winner in the Marketing Category, Emma Gray, Marketing Director at Marketing Birmingham annd Rob Markwell, Pitch Consultants