Undergraduate Buyer Review

In terms of workload, management support and involvement in useful projects, the placement represented a terrible experience. It fell massively below my expectations for the placement and probably would have been most peoples' idea of a nightmare experience

Majority of the little work I was provided with, came from my colleagues. They certainly appreciated whatever work I did complete for them.

An unthinkable lack of support, structure and guidance was present from my supposed 'manager'. It isn't possible for me express how poorly managed I was. My manager didn't set any objectives for me at the start of my placement to provide structure. Objectives were only set 4 weeks into the placement, after continually pestering. Minimal amounts of feedback was given by my manager and they never devoted any time to provide guidance for the work set. Throughout the duration my placement, my manager never held a one-to-one with me and getting work out of them, was like drawing blood from a stone. The lack of management provided was one of the major reasons for my awful experience and frankly I don't think they deserve the title 'manager'.

I continually was left with little work to complete and this is despite frequent requests for a greater workload. From the offset, the lack of structure meant a lot of my time was spent twiddling my thumbs. The little work that was set, was on the whole menial and devoid of sufficient complexity. Continually requests for a greater workload went largely unheard from my manager and this culminated in my submitting a complaint to HR. Even after my manager was urged to provide a more stimulating experience for me by HR, a lack of work still persisted. The meagre amount of work made the days seem extremely long and almost feet like a form of torture.

There was a distinct lack of responsibility provided and it was considerably less than what I had expected. The projects I worked on were generally meaningless and I had little opportunity to be involved in important business decisions. When I rarely did obtain some responsibility is was due to my own initiative or from a colleague.

The absence of workload and responsibility meant I developed very little in regards to my employment- useful skills or future university work. Further, no training existed, which I found disappointing.

The atmosphere was fairly jovial in the office I was based. Many colleagues had a good sense of humour and were very approachable.

The placement certainly could have been organised in a superior way. There was insufficient induction, considering I was a new starter. Furthermore, objectives should have been set to provide structure and help prevent the lack of work I experienced.

To my knowledge there were limited opportunities to participate in useful training and development. However, with me only being there for 12 weeks, it probably doesn't allow lots of time for such training programs to occur.

I declined an invitation to be interviewed for progression onto the Graduate scheme. My poor experience made me very worried about what a career with JLR would entail. I suppose if you enjoy having little work to do and want to get paid a generous salary, then it could be very attractive to some people!

I believe there was a good social scene amongst other placement students as the majority lived in the same accommodation. I rarely got involved, as I'm from Coventry, so lived at home for the placement.

Coventry and the surroundings areas are fairly affordable in terms of living costs. As alluded to in the previous question, this didn't affect me, as I lived at home

I lived in the area for 20 years, so believe I'm fairly qualified to pass judgement on it! Coventry and Leamington have plenty of pubs, bars and clubs to visit and they will cater for a wide spectrum of tastes. Some people may be slightly disappointed if they are used to larger places such as London or Manchester. However, Birmingham isn't a great distance away, if you require the nightlife offered by the largest cities.

I would say there was probably a fair amount due to the placement students living together. Due to me living at home and being familiar with the area, it made it harder for me to get involved.