My name is Nick Corrigan, I am thirty one years of age, I have been with the Miller Group for eight years and I work in the North of England for Miller Construction.

Prior to joining the Miller Group I completed a BSc Honors in Building Management at the University of Northumbria. The reason I chose construction as my career was the diversity of the industry and the opportunities and prospects. I also had a general interest in the construction industry from being a child.

The reason I chose to apply to the Miller Group is that it appeared to be a very ambitious company which matched my ambitions for the future and it also came with glowing recommendations from university lecturers and students alike.

The qualities which I feel are essential for a Miller graduate to succeed are the need to be committed, sharing the ambitions of the Group and have the ability to make a difference.

I first joined Miller though an Industrial Placement. The Placement was part of my degree for a year. Following the degree I was sponsored by the Miller Group. Upon completion of my degree I came back and had a two week induction as part of the first graduate scheme and there are still three or four of us from that first scheme still here and we all remain in touch.

As Miller was my first employer it was very daunting in my initial first few weeks of employment but having a friendly face of a mentor and someone I could talk to if I was concerned about any issues was certainly very worthwhile. If I was to give some words of advice about the first few months when you start your career with Miller - what I would say is that it is important that you talk to people, don't be afraid to ask questions no-one expects you to know everything.

My current role involves working with the Bid Team at tender stage, hopefully then we take it on the site and work our way through the programme to deliver the project on time and to budget for the client. The best thing about my role is seeing a client or an end user working in the environment that we have just constructed for them.

During my time with Miller Construction I have worked on a wide variety of schemes from retail to education and industrial, to commercial and residential. The Graduate Scheme opens up a host of training opportunities and during my time in the Scheme I completed an Open University Certificate in Management and also worked towards becoming Chartered.

Each year we also have an annual appraisal with our line manager. During the appraisal you are given the opportunity to express an interest in further training and this is always carried through as it is something which the Company invests in heavily. I recently completed a Nebosh Certificate in Safety.

In my future career with Miller I want to help deliver the aspirations of both the Regional and National businesses though successful completion of projects and build a relationship with customers.

Miller does not hold you back because of your age which I think has been proven through my progression, so hopefully there is further room for improvement.

I cannot really comment on the funniest thing that I have seen through fear of losing friends but what I can say is we do have fun whilst we are at work. Outside of work I enjoy playing Rugby Union - I must have done well this week as I have no broken bones or black eyes to prove that I have been playing!

What I would say to someone thinking of applying for a Miller Graduate Placement is it's an excellent opportunity to become part of a very successful organisation that has recently announced it's thirteenth year of successive growth within the business. Miller is a friendly and caring organisation.