Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement with JLR. When i was given work to do it was important that i attempted it to the best of my abilities. In doing this I got the most out of my experience with JLR. I feel that showing enthusiasm to learn and be included allowed me to receive a far more involved placement.

I feel that the team i was in done their best to include me and make me feel comfortable within the team. There are obvious limits to this due to the type of work that they had to do but if i showed interest in their area of work there were happy to have me help if it was possible.

The management that i was given by members of my team as well as my a mentor/manager was incredibly reassuring and helpful throughout my placement. It felt as though they wanted me to get as much out of the company as i could, whether this be through meeting suppliers or showing me totally different aspects of the company. They believed that it was important that i was included in other areas in the company so that i could try and get a reasonable scope of the whole company even in a short amount of time.

When I was given work to do I would consider myself comfortably busy. It was quite a relaxed environment and my work was important to me so the time constraints were not overly intensive and were to be expected. There were some times where i was not always busy but if i was able to find a member of my team looking for help, they would usually be able to give me some work to do and were happy to do so.

I feel that the work i was given seemed small at first but as time went on it became more and more relevant to the overall working of the team. My manager allowed me to work on my own and was never over bearing with my project work which i feel allowed me to produce far better work.

I believe that this entire experience will allow me to work greater within a team in later life as well as being able to balance multiple tasks with varying time dependencies. Having to work with so many different people within my allocated team as well as external suppliers and people in different teams allowed me to be flexible and showed that good communication and people skills are always going to be important.

The office environment was always enjoyable. Nobody in my team took themselves too seriously and were always able to chat or laugh if you were having a conversation. It was a very busy working environment as well so if you weren't feeling social and had work to do then you were never interrupted or bothered as there was a mutual understanding that everyone has work to do.

I feel that the overall work placement was well planned but the actual work that needed to be done could have been set out better. It may just be in my own case that my work was altered due to team members changing but this seemed to derail the work i was meant to do for a short period. Overall, the organisation was good but these issues did affect the overall placement.

The company fully supported my learning throughout the entire placement. If there were any courses that i might need to know then they were happy for me to go and take courses and improve my abilities within the company. It felt as though JLR wanted me to succeed and improve my own abilities as these improvements would be reflected in my work for them.

Due to my project being changed throughout my placement it is difficult to judge how well i was perceived within my team and by my manager. I feel that i have worked well within my placement and receiving any hints of future employment would be very interesting and i would definitely consider it.

The social scene was as good as you and your fellow graduates would make of it. Living in Coventry was probably the only serious drawback to the placement as a whole. There really is not much to do in this area where the majority of undergraduates end up living (due to student accommodation). However after speaking to graduates we are told that living in Leamington Spa is far better for socializing

The living costs were manageable and socializing was never really very expensive as there was not a huge amount to do. There are plenty of pubs and places to eat but if you were looking to go shopping then you were probably better looking for places outside of Coventry. These options were never too bad as London and Birmingham were accessible by train if you wanted to get away from Coventry for a day.

The nightlife was mainly pub nights either due to the hours most people were working and due to the lack of options where the majority of undergraduates were staying. However there may have been better options outside Coventry but it really depended on what your group of undergraduates wanted to look for.

There were Gradnet opportunities that were made available to the undergraduates but due to them being hosted in leamington and the majority of students being based in Coventry the majority of them went unnoticed. Many of the undergraduates wanted to arrange sporting activities or days out which were all very enjoyable when they actually happened.