Electrification Architecture Group - Graduate Trainee Review

The team I was placed in are all great to work with and really nice making it an enjoyable time here. The work I do isn't ideally what I want to do but it keeps me busy.

They made me feel like part of the team from the start and we have team socials regularly. I feel I could take more responsibility on in terms of work load but it's such a short placement I feel I won't get a proper project.

If I ever have a question the whole team are more than happy to help, easy to approach and point you in the right direction.

I have enough work to get on with to pass the time but find I have to slow down my work pace to spread out the day. Coming from university into a work place environment is a shock, as you have to sometimes wait around for people to email back before continuing with a piece of work.

I am helping a colleague with his day to day role as the team is newly formed there is a lot of work to be done in his area. I don't have my own individual project.

Learning how to behave and work in a work place environment is important, and as this is my second placement I feel I have gained much more confidence from last year in terms of being able to ask questions and being able to present work to the team. It really helps you integrate into a team if you know how to communicate well with others.

The office I am in is a 'working smarter' office. This means everyone hot desks. With a new desk every day it feels like a much more relaxed place to work and it's a good way to meet new people in the department as a whole not just your team. It expands your social network and makes going to work an enjoyable experience.

Before my team was completely re organised, my previous manager was very communicative prior to my arrival. We had video calls to meet my supervisors and members of the team, he talked me through my projects and objectives and invited me down for a day to visit. On arrival I had a laptop ready, a personal locker and my whole week itinerary organised.

Last placement I attended a MATLAB and Simulink course (fundamentals for automotive design) to which I intend to add to this summer by attending the next one. I am also encouraged to arrange site visits to manufacturing sites to broaden my knowledge of the cars assembly in terms of powertrain.

The pay is definitely a good incentive to return to JLR, especially if you are fortunate enough to be on a sponsorship scheme. The graduate programme is 2 years long with department rotations so you can experience different sides of the company and meet a lot of new people. The graduate intake is the largest I have heard of so the social scene is great. JLR put you through your charter ship in which ever discipline you studied at university which is an added bonus!

There are so many graduates and undergraduates taken on each year that you will struggle not to meet new people.

Leamington Spa is reasonably priced in terms of dining and nights out but is expensive to rent there. As an undergraduate I live in Coventry in halls at £75 a week with bills included so can't complain at that! - it is not the nicest of places to live though.

I was pleasantly surprised with the night life in Coventry, really cheap and not to far into town. Leamington Spa is great for bars if you fancy a drink in the evening.

This depends on whether you have a car or not. There is a climbing centre at Warwick uni which I attended a few times and activities such as Disc Golf just outside Leamington were a good laugh. In coventry there is Sky Dome which has a cinema/ice skating and gym etc which is a good way to spend the evenings if you don't fancy the pub.