How have you seen your role develop since you first started?
I spent my first couple of weeks meeting the team, having introductory sessions to the agencies we work with and meeting the various different people I would be working with. I sat down with my line manager to go through my role and what they expected of me during my placement. I shadowed my manager and other team members to gain a better understanding of what my team were working on at the moment and the various different projects in progress. I was also taken through the different business processes and methods that the agencies adopt. Since then, I have been working on a variety of projects, managing my team’s finances and engaging with the social media agencies that we implement on a global scale. Over the next few months I will also be managing a team who develops the Jaguar and Land Rover websites.
How would you describe a typical working day?
If I am at Whitley, I usually get in around 8, and attend various meetings with people in my team and other areas of Jaguar Land Rover. I then update action logs and trackers, help put together decks for meetings and sometimes attend conference calls with agencies. I often work at agencies in Birmingham Airport, central Birmingham and central London so the hours differ. I do not clock in and out at a certain time each day, or work a specific number of hours; it really all depends on what I am doing and where I am.
What was a project you were proud to be part of?
I have been working on a project called Product Reviews, where customers are sent an email asking if they would like to fill out a product review. If they do, we then display this review on the Jaguar and Land Rover websites. We are currently doing a pilot in Australia with the hope to roll it out globally but as we are changing suppliers at the moment, the timelines are changing. My role has been to work alongside the project lead in our team, lead weekly project update conference calls, maintain the action tracker, and create monthly reports pulled from Google Analytics to send out to senior stakeholders. For this project I have been working with stakeholders from Purchase and Service, Consumer Insights, UK NSC, the Australian market, Quality and Global Digital Marketing Communications.
How would you describe the undergraduate community at Jaguar Land Rover?
Yes, although there is only one undergraduate in a team, so you only really interact with other undergraduates at lunch time. However, I am only usually in Whitley once or twice a week because I am often working at different agencies. Therefore, I do not see the other undergraduates very often although we do socialise outside of work which is good fun.
What’s the best thing about being part of the Undergraduate Programme?
The best thing is probably the experience of working for such a reputable brand, and the levels of exposure to senior management, important projects and the engagement of other companies we work with. Being given a much higher level of responsibility than I expected and very much being treated as another member of the team not just the intern. I am also loving working in the digital side of marketing, which is ever-changing and fast paced.
