Undergraduate Trainee Review

I had a great time at JLR, I was placed in SVO, one of the more exciting divisions in the company, putting out specialised products that were very interesting to work on. My manager and team always made an effort to involve me in different aspects of the division and got in touch with managers of other departments to arrange experience with other divisions to get a full scope of SVO and what they do.

As an undergrad I had limited access to certain platforms and software so the work I was able to do was limited. Despite this my colleagues still valued the undergrads in the office and did their best to support our work in areas we couldn't access or didn't have the training to use effectively. From speaking to other undergrads it's obvious most departments value their interns while some didn't put that much effort into utilising them.

My manager and mentor were extremely supportive. They put aside a lot of time to schedule 1:1 support sessions and were always more than willing to help if I needed any guidance. They continuously checked up on how my work was going and offered assistance when it comes to making contacts in other areas and giving feedback on my progress. My manager was directly involved throughout my placement rather than handing me off to a mentor.

This depends on what part of the placement I was in. The first week or 2 was introductions, learning, setting up devices, software, and site access so it was a fairly busy period. The intermediate weeks where a project was starting to pick up were quite slow and sometimes boring, given we are assigned one project to work on so there wasn't much to do when this project was on hold (waiting for parts, testing results, etc). Towards the end the workload picked up again as the project started to make progress and deliverables were starting to take shape.

I was given a project to work on that hardly anyone else on the team was working on, but was clearly important based on meetings, timing plans, etc. So it was a decent amount of responsibility, with a lot of independence but at the same time there was always support from other team members when needed. All in all, the department was very trusting of the undergrads, assigning us important projects to take charge of.

The placement was very beneficial, it gave me a detailed insight into how the automotive industry works plus an exposure to the processes and platforms that engineers work with in an office. Aside from the bureaucracy, I also learned a lot of theory regarding how my division's products work and what goes into designing/testing/implementing them which directly supports my degree studies.

My division was an exciting division to work in, they deliver some of the highest end products JLR has to offer so it was fun getting to work with these vehicles and to be able to get first hand experience testing and driving some of them. The office has a very friendly casual atmosphere and being open and outgoing was greatly encouraged. Communication between employees and managers was smooth and welcome, the team was generally very friendly.

There is a good degree of organisation. Interns are carefully placed in departments based on preference and abilities, objectives and projects are clearly defined from the start and there is a clear development plan to be followed. The only downside is that there was a fairly large difference between how each division handles its interns. Some valued them and gave them a balanced workload while interns in certain divisions were underused and bored for the majority of the placement. Better communication between the undergraduate team in HR and each manager would help.

JLR is heavily invested in training and developing its trainees. There is an entire HR recruitment team dedicated to monitoring and supporting our development that are always easy to reach and willing to help. It is highly stressed that any problems interns face with their placements should directly be communicated to HR and our managers which have instructions to put in the effort to ensure we are benefiting from the placements while our divisions benefit from our work as well.

The graduate scheme is meant to be one of the best in the country, it offers a decent pay with benefits and provides a chance to move around different divisions for long periods so graduates can get insight into different parts of JLR before fully integrating into a role, so I would definitely return for a graduate placement given the chance. The only downside is the apparent discrepancy between the work environments between different divisions so satisfaction seems influenced by which department one is employed in. But that's why movement between departments is always encouraged.

Within the company there was a group of graduates and undergraduates that organised events and forums to encourage social interaction between placement students. When it comes to other colleagues most of the people I worked with were very friendly and sociable and there were regular events and team outings on weekends so there was a chance to get to know the team better outside of the office. Many of the undergraduates stayed in the same halls in Coventry where the social scene was great, especially since undergrads were grouped into the same flats.

Coventry is not the cheapest city in the midlands but still relatively cheap when compared to places like London, Manchester, etc.

A few decent clubs and pubs, and Coventry is a student city so nightlife was ok.

JLR has an employee learning scheme that offers to fund learning or training activities outside of work including work related and personal development. This could be anything such as seminars, track driving, sports.