Jaguar land rover at careers fair

[Rob]

So I was at the summer careers fair, looking for companies that are still recruiting and i came across the jaguar LR stand. I decided to ask about graduate mechanical engineer positions and they told me that i would have to wait until the 2011 entry as all places are full. right means i wont be applying here but i asked a few more questions about the company out of curiosity and this is what was revealed. Every other sentence was 'we are the best this and that and we don't do joint ventures cos we are the best engineers in the world so TATA is keen to learn from us'. they also mentioned about the job perks, and there seem to be plenty and then we were back on the we are the best talk. I got the feeling that they were forcing the LR ideology down my throat so i decided to ask which projects they work on, and was told that they are in LR powertrian product design. They also mentioned that if they charge £70,000 for their product then they have to make sure that the product is top notch and they ensure this by employing the best... 'my husband works here too as it the best...' it got to the point where i was being talked at this is when i decided to leave but how? do i wait, interrupt or walk away

what a way to put you off form working at a company I have been to many careers fairs at university and this is the first time i have come across such an arrogant bunch of employees encouraging you to work for them. even if i approached a company which was clearly the best in their field they were always modest about it, in fact i don't recall Rolls-Royce saying anything that would suggest that they make the best jet engines in the world. Just to make things clear I approached with an open mind and was more interested in developing for Jaguar.

OK rant over

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

What lovely people they would be to work with ... NOT

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Land Rover... the world would be such a better place with out them

 

[silvercruiser]

Land Rover... the world would be such a better place with out them

But if there was no land rovers then i couldnt rib my dad all day long

He's is back in the garage with suspect cracked head on a td5 looking like a 2K job.

And Land rover say "They also mentioned that if they charge £70,000 for their product then they have to make sure that the product is top notch and they ensure this by employing the best"

Ha ha great design putting the injectors and fuel rail inside the head.

Joe

 

[Crispin]

Not exactly modest are they. You should have offered them some of our stickers

Joe -
Errm,could you be talking about the 90 and their cracked head due to on-the-edge cooling or the 120 with it's injectors on the wrong side of the tappet cover which in turn is under the inter-cooler which needs some pipes removed from the EGR valve

/hijack

 

[silvercruiser]

Not exactly modest are they. You should have offered them some of our stickers

Joe -
Errm,could you be talking about the 90 and their cracked head due to on-the-edge cooling or the 120 with it's injectors on the wrong side of the tappet cover which in turn is under the inter-cooler which needs some pipes removed from the EGR valve

/hijack

Ha ha yeah i think they are all as bad as each other

Joe

I still like to rib my dad though

 

[Rob]

Just as i was about to walk away they said that i could apply for a direct entry position, avoiding their graduate scheme. I dont think i will be applying...

Not exactly modest are they. You should have offered them some of our stickers

if only i knew they were there beforehand i would of asked you to send me some

 

[Crispin]

Just as i was about to walk away they said that i could apply for a direct entry position, avoiding their graduate scheme. I dont think i will be applying...

Even if it is only to pitch up in your trusty 80?

 

[Paul]

A job is a job.

I have found nearly every contact and contract from being in my trade and moving around so maybe grab any opertunity and use it as a stepping stone to bigger things.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

One of the LR Experience instructors drives an 80

 

[Rob]

A job is a job.

I have found nearly every contact and contract from being in my trade and moving around so maybe grab any opertunity and use it as a stepping stone to bigger things.

I agree Paul, but due to my initial impressions it difficult to put them high up on my list. As i said i approached them with an open mind and i dont have any anti LR feelings that would get in the way of finding a job. This may not be representative of the entire company but think of it this way. These people get asked, or at least approved, to come to a careers fair by their superiors and if their superiors chose this lot then it tells you allot about the organisational culture of the company. This along with other reasons including not accepting graduates until 2011 is why i have them so low on my list that i will most likely not get round to applying.

 

[Andrew Prince]

Rob, I think you should give your feedback to LR/Jag about their numpty HR/PR people and what kind of image that gives about their company. I agree with your impression that if that's the way the behave to the public then that might not be where you want to be working.

Your constructive feedback will at least highlight to them that they have a weakness - whether or not they act on it is up to them and will be a test for them as a company. (My guess is they will say thank you for the feedback and do jack$hit about it but hey at least you would have tried!)

Without wishing to over-generalise, my experience in the UK has been that many companies here think they're quite special (and a few are!) when, like Jag in this case, they're really pretty ordinary but they work hard at convincing themselves that they're great. Few of the UK companies that I've been exposed to work hard on the people side and great people-management and genuinely great performance appears to be a blind-spot. The multi-nationals tend to be a bit better at this, some more so than others of course! My 2c anyway

[/long-winded spiel ]

 

[Rob]

Leave them feedback, now that's some brilliant revision procrastination

 

[Andrew Prince]

Well, you could be following the outcome of the last 30 odd seats in the election

 

[Rob]

im doing that as well