Undergraduate Review

I really enjoyed my three month placement. It was a good mix of interesting, challenging and rewarding. I had a great home team that supported me throughout and my project was something I enjoyed doing. I feel that I learnt a lot and gained valuable corporate experience. I would recommend doing a placement here.

My home team made me feel a valued member of the team from the start. They trust me to work hard, to complete tasks for them and to take responsibility for my project. My other colleagues from my project team have been a mixture. My project leader has been encouraging throughout and I have met others who see the benefit of my work, making me feel valued.

My supervisor has been supportive throughout, offering me guidance and support where necessary. We have weekly meetings where we discuss my project, future career and placement. She has given me constant feedback which has helped me continually improve. I feel that I can ask her for help and this relationship would continue after my placement.

The work load varied weekly depending on deadlines. I felt like the amount of work I had kept me busy and challenged without forcing me to work late and stress over deadlines. If there was a time where i felt I wasn't doing much I could always ask either of my teams for something.

During my placement I was solely responsible for the success of my project. Although I had sponsors and people to assist me, it was up to me to drive the tasks forward. This included setting up meetings, finding the right information and taking responsibility for asking for help when I needed it. I was also given smaller tasks from my home team. They trusted me to carry these out alongside the other work I was doing.

At the beginning of the placement we set some personal objectives to help with my development. Examples include better presenting skills, more confidence and being more decisive. Throughout my placement I was able to practise these and I feel that they will help me not only in my further studies but in future careers.

My home team has a great morale. There are weekly team meetings so everyone is kept in the know, we have monthly fun nights and there is a good balance of work and casual conversation. I have enjoyed working with them more than my other team because it has felt like a better atmosphere.

There have been parts where it hasn't felt that organised, however that is more from the graduate hiring side than my home team. I have not been particularly affected by this but I feel that as these placements occur regularly and are planned well in advance there are some aspects that could have been organised better.

I'm not sure how much the company invested in me as any development I gained was purely though my own department and not because I am on the undergraduate scheme. WE had one intro day at the beginning and they offer talks throughout, however no real focus on skills development.

I would like to work for a company like Jaguar Land Rover again.

There was a certain amount of socialising. You are pretty much left to do it yourselves as there is nothing organised. A lot of the undergraduates live together so get to know each other. I didn't so had to rely on knowing a few people to get to know others. This was mainly done through meeting up at lunch times.

As i lived in my term time accommodation I can't really comment on this as it had nothing to do with the placement.

Haven't really experienced the nightlife. To socialise I went to the pubs/bars and the cinema. However this is mainly because I was living with uni friends and we weren't in a new area so didn't feel the need to explore the nightlife.

The undergraduates organised 5-a-side football tournament on Wednesdays which was fun to get involved in. However a lot of people go home at the weekends so not much out of work activities. But this is also because I didn't feel the need to look for any as I had other things to do.