How have you seen your role develop since you first started?
In the first couple of weeks at Jaguar Land Rover, I took the opportunity to shadow my team members and learned the role of each individual person. I made myself familiar with my building and its facilities, and regularly sat in on meetings with my manager so that I could get a glimpse of his general day-to-day work. I began with a relatively small job role, helping to manage the team’s generic inbox and assisting to run weekly reports. My role has developed since then as I now organise and lead my own meetings. I run several projects that have required me to build my own processes and reports, and I often pick up ad-hoc tasks assigned to my team because I have the confidence to tackle anything that comes my way.
How would you describe a typical working day?
I start at 7:30am most days, but my manager is flexible if I have to start/leave earlier or later, which is great. My day consists of a number of basic tasks such as reporting, managing generic inboxes and solving ad-hoc problems. I regularly interact with my team members and work alongside people from other departments and even third-party organisations. The office culture is very calm and everyone is approachable and willing to help you with tasks, whether that means taking time out of their day to sit down and work through something with you, or by pointing you in the right direction of someone who has a better knowledge of the topic.
What was a project you were proud to be part of?
In my first month on placement I was assigned a new project which involved managing large customer orders for one of Jaguar Land Rover’s wholesalers and analysing the stock so that the large orders didn’t impact our availability. This was something that I ran by myself so I felt a real sense of responsibility and ownership of the project. I built a good relationship with my main points of contact at the wholesalers and worked with them to successfully deliver parts in a structured manner. I became a trusted point of contact for them, and from their feedback, I feel that I really helped them in improving their ordering process as well.
How would you describe the undergraduate community at Jaguar Land Rover?
I feel strongly involved in the undergraduate community. From week one, all of the undergraduates in my function were brought together for an introductory presentation and encouraged to get to know each other. After that, we organised our own undergraduate networking session. We took the opportunity to go on plant tours, spend time in other departments and build genuine friendships outside of work.
What’s the best thing about being part of the Undergraduate Programme?
I think the Undergraduate Programme is an excellent opportunity to gain a true insight into ‘real-world’ working and it is a great chance to network and build useful points of contact that can help you in your future. As an undergraduate, people expect you to grab opportunities with both hands which is great because people in the organisation always ask you to help them on a project, or go with them to an off-site meeting/experience day because they want you to have as much exposure to the company as possible. Before I began my role, I thought I wouldn’t be given much responsibility because of my lack of experience, but I was gladly surprised that was not the case, and I feel trusted and valued in my job.
How would you describe your placement to a friend?
It’s exciting, very challenging, a great opportunity, but most of all fun!
