Vehicle Package Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

My role in Vehicle Packaging involves coming up with solutions to how we can best package the components of the car to meet design and business objectives. I have to work with other departments within Vehicle Engineering to decide what the best options are and so this role gives me the opportunity to gain a good overview on the development of the whole vehicle. It's worth noting that the first year will be based almost full time at college.

I have become a more confident person since starting this apprenticeship and my team work skills have certainly improved. There's a heavy focus on workshop skills in the first year which I have learnt, and the frequent assignments are improving my organisational skills. There's an Employee Learning Scheme that gives apprentices the opportunity to learn new skills externally for free ecah year although I've not used this yet.

I am enjoying the programme, and am looking forward to spending more time at work in the second year. My team of apprentices are all friendly and very supportive of each other, and our managers are very helpful and encouraging. The workload at college is good, although it can often feel as though we do not get the most out of lesson time.

Our managers definitely appreciate us and feel that we are the future of the department. They are keen to give us projects with lot's of responsibility and success is rewarded with more challenging and exciting tasks at work. We have regular meetings with our learning managers who often provide us with feedback including positive comments from our college tutors who recognise our hard work. However, JLR doesn't offer any opportunities for 1st year apprentices to get involved in the organisation more widely such as volunteering or industry events.

The first year of the programme is at college (except for a few weeks at your department), with college time split with mostly workshop training and 3 week long blocks of lessons. As it is the college's first year of doing this block system then assignments and lessons are often clumped together, which can make meeting assignment deadlines and revising lesson content difficult. However, there are often times when you have little work to do, and the lack of time spent in your department at work in the first year is dissapointing.

As tutors are assigned multiple classes, we don't always get to spend much time with them. Our learning managers and other members of college staff do provide us with helpful guidance and take action on our feedback, such as providing E Books and additional college classes in the evening when we do not have the course materials and teaching time we need. However, the support provided will depend on the lecturer as some are far more supportive than others although I am enjoying college overall.

Our managers provide us with lots of support and will try to help you with whatever they can. I always feel like I can turn to my colleagues for guidance when I'm struggling with tasks at work. JLR have a good attitude with supporting us because of the close link with our training provider, and they are engaged with our progress at college.

The salary is highly competitive for a degree apprenticeship, and goes up every 6 months subject to your performance. As I'm currently living at home then I've been able to save up a large ammount of money and the salary will soon be enough to enable me to live comfortably when I move out. As many people (including me) car share then travel costs are reduced by splitting the cost of journeys. Warwickshire is a relatively expensive area although as most people live in college provided accomodation or house share which makes it affordable.

As a first year apprentice I haven't had any opportunities outside of work, although we are encouraged to join Engineering institutions and participate in industry events instead. Several JLR sites have discounted on site gyms, and some apprentices have set up their own sports tournaments. As there is a large student population nearby then there are many pubs/resturants and clubs for socialising at.

Yes

The scheme offers a great opportunity to learn new skills and become a fully qualified Engineer whilst working on stimulating projects that make you feel proud to work for JLR. Although college is not always enjoyable, the learning is a good foundation towards starting at university and more opportunities will be offered in the later years of the scheme.

Make sure that you are honest on your application and ensure you demonstrate the attitudes/behaviours JLR are after. Don't rush the online tests and think about what would be expected of you when anwsering situational judgement test questions. Make sure to be friendly to the other candidates at the assessment centre and demonstrate what you can offer above the other candidates to the assesors. Most importantly, don't worry if you don't hear anything back immediately, it can take a long time between the different stages of the application process before hearing anything!