Vehicle Integration Undergraduate Engineer Review

My 12 month undergraduate placement was extremely enjoyable - having previously undertaken two 3 month summer placements I knew what business area I wanted to spend my 12 months in and subsequently had a very enjoyable year, being given a role and responsibility of someone who was a permanent employee and getting involved in projects that were suitable to my skill and experience.

During my placement I was able to form strong bonds with colleagues across my entire departmental team, assisting on other projects where extra resource was required and experiencing a wider overview of the business as a result. I was also able to undertake personal projects for senior managers, demonstrating the trust they had in me which in turn increased the personal feeling that I was a valued employee in the department. Additionally the support I was given to prioritise my driver training and subsequently being able to assist with testing a wide variety of vehicles showed that my colleagues and managers valued my input.

During my 12 months I had different supervisors for each of the projects that I worked on, who in turn collaborated with my line manager to give me the required support as and when I needed it. I never felt like I was left to fend for myself which allowed me to perform confidently and make the correct decisions in line with the business needs.

After getting up to speed with the various projects ongoing at the start of my placement, I was given a selection of tasks to work on that were both suitable and applicable to my skillset and experience level. When I felt I had spare capacity I was able to take on extra tasks and never once did I feel I was overloaded with work - any overtime that I did work was not forced upon me and I always wanted to do it, which I feel was a result of enjoying the work I was doing.

As my placement progressed, I was steadily given more responsibility as my skills improved and knowledge of the business grew. Initially the tasks I was given affected events in the near future, but at the end of my placement I was doing a role that could potentially have had repercussions in over two years time, and a role that was usually carried out by someone who has been at the company for several years.

The department I worked in was not particularly technical, instead the skills that I gained were project overview and managerial skills, whilst also improving my interpersonal and communication skills which will be invaluable during my final year of university and then returning as a graduate. In preparation for returning as a graduate the training i received during my placement will be invaluable, allowing me to be useful as soon as I (hopefully) return to the company.

The team that I worked in were always busy, and occasionally things could get stressful in the approach to a programme gateway, but on the whole there was a good atmosphere, with a strong cohesion between all of the team members and across the projects. In particular this was reinforced by offsite events that the team went on as team-building tasks, and also on socials that occurred a couple of times throughout the year.

Undergraduate placements are really well organised at JLR - there is clear communication right from the start, all the undergraduates are added to a facebook group where information is shared regularly and it allows undergrads to get to know each other a bit before starting which is particularly helpful when looking for accommodation. This then continues once the placement starts, with a introduction day with various presentations and manager introductions, and special areas on the company intranet with documentation for new undergraduate starters that helps to explain all the systems used and provides links to systems where necessary. At the end of the placement the assessment process for subsequent placements is simple and well organised, reducing the workload for all involved.

JLR invests a lot in the training of the undergraduate placement students, with compulsory online training to bring them up to speed on the company products and processes. Personally, I undertook a reasonable amount of driver training as this was required for my role. As it was required for my role there were no issues in getting this signed off by my manager - speaking to other undergraduates, where there is a business need training is readily provided and encouraged.

Following a successful managerial appraisal, it is simple to come back to work at JLR provided that they are offering undergraduate or graduate scheme placements the following year, which has always been the case so far. Speaking as someone who has now completed 3 placements here, it is a great company to return to, with excellent future prospects for both promotion and personal development upon a return to the company. In particular their graduate scheme is very well regarded - and very well paid!

I did not socialise a huge amount with the other undergraduates other than those I lived with, but this was a personal choice, and it would have been easy to socialise with the other undergraduates through using the facebook group set up to encourage communication between us. In terms of socialising with my colleagues, there were opportunities to socialise during the year, and those that I could make were enjoyable and allowed me to get to know everyone better.

The area that I chose to live in with my housemates was not particularly cheap - £107 per week is pretty expensive for rent but this was our choice as we wanted to live in Leamington. If we had chosen to live in Coventry or Kenilworth than this figure could have been much lower. The midlands is reasonably priced - it is nowhere near as expensive as London to socialise or live and there are plenty of well priced places to go out or eat etc.

Social sporting (football, mountain biking) events and JLR in the community work are examples of activities you can get involved with outside of work.