Undergraduate Placement, Hybrid Programmes Review

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable placement. It's a fantastic company to work for and there were lots of great opportunities along the way.

I was amazed by how much my colleagues around me were willing to help me and valued my input. I certainly felt like a valued member of the team.

I had a weekly review meeting with my manager, which was incredibly useful for keeping my project on track and making sure I was producing work to the right standard. In addition to this, my colleagues around me were all extremely supportive. The company has taken on a fair amount of new staff over the last few years, and this means that there is a really helpful atmosphere where people want to do what they can to assist you in your learning and development. I was never made to feel that I was wrong to ask questions or seek clarification about anything. The only reason I wouldn't give this section 10/10 is because of the non-existent buddy system that was meant to be in place during my internship. A graduate engineer was supposed to act as a supervisor in addition to my manager throughout my placement, in order to help deal with any concerns I had. Unfortunately, this didn't quite get off the ground in time, and I was never assigned a buddy engineer. However, the company have taken steps to ensure that, in the future, the system will be up and running nice and early, so this should not be a problem for any future interns. Furthermore, if I'm honest, my colleagues and manager were so supportive that the absence of a buddy really didn't have much of an impact.

This varied quite a bit throughout the placement. To start off with, the pace was fairly slow, but as I became familiar with the role I was in and the company as a whole, my project began to pick up and by the end of the placement, I felt like I had a fairly decent balance of workload. The "lull" at the start was actually fairly useful, as it meant there was time to learn about how the company operates and is structured, rather than being thrown straight in at the deep end.

I was given plenty of responsibility. In my role as a Project Leader, I was in charge of running my project and keeping it on track. I had to coordinate and communicate with all the relevant parties involved and take responsibility for how I structure my day. This felt quite daunting at first, but by the end of the placement I had a good sense of how rewarding it is to run a project.

I really feel like I developed as a person on this placement. My organisation and interpersonal skills have been taken up a notch and this will be really beneficial to me in the future. If nothing else, the self-confidence I've gained from successfully completing work throughout the placement will prove to be invaluable as I go through my final year of university and begin looking for graduate roles.

Everyone around me was very friendly and very helpful. There was a genuine sense of openness that meant I could go and ask anyone a question if I was unsure of something.

Potentially an area of improvement, as there were quite a few teething problems to get over in the first couple of weeks. None of these were major issues, but they're the sort of things that can feel like a big deal when you're getting started, such as how to activate your card for the canteen and access doors you need. A little more support in this area would have been good. The undergraduate sessions organised by the graduate network were very good and really helpful for getting information and networking with fellow interns. There were fortnightly drop-in Q&A sessions which were great for getting an answer to any niggling questions. There were also guest experts at the Q&A sessions, so there were some great opportunities to find out about things like personal development and support towards chartership within the company. The "undergraduate share fair" towards the end of the placement was a fantastic way to showcase everything I'd done, whilst also allowing me to see what fellow undergraduates had been working on.

I was able to take plenty of online training courses, which were a fantastic way to learn more about the company and develop skills. My colleagues around me invested a lot of time into my development. They would often, for example, be happy to schedule a meeting with me to give me an introduction to a particular process that I was new to, and would then have follow up meetings with me to make sure I was comfortable with what I was doing. I was encouraged to create a personal development plan to follow during my placement and my manager was happy to review my personal progress as well as my work, throughout the placement.

Would very happily work for the company in the future. Hoping to hear back from them about a graduate placement soon.

The graduate network within the company put plenty of events on to get to know fellow placement students. There were also some team socials within my office.

Can't comment too much on this, as I commuted into work from home. That said, fellow undergraduate students seemed happy with where they were living and how much it cost,

Again, it's difficult for me to comment, being as I commuted into work from home. Some of the team socials are held in nearby Leamington Spa, which were really good fun.

Over the course of my placement, there were only a few socials which really gave me a chance to do activities outside of work. That said, had my placement been any longer, I am in no doubt that there are plenty of opportunities at JLR that I could have been involved with. Among my particular interests is a company karting championship, but there are loads of other great opportunities to get involved with sports. During my placement, there was a fair which exhibited some of the great volunteering opportunities you can get involved with at the company, such as going into schools and helping to judge engineering competitions.