Meet Humza, Level 6 Applied Professional Engineering Programme Degree Apprentice. Hear about his experience doing an apprenticeship at JLR.
Q: What position did you start in and what is your position now? Please describe your current responsibilities.
I joined JLR as an APEP apprentice in September of last year. Alongside studying for my degree, I spent my first 6 months training and developing to work in Vehicle Integration. I’m currently on a placement with the Visualisation team, we help engineers to solve technical problems and make key decisions through the use of virtual reality.
Q: Are you involved in any other projects / networks? If so, please describe what they are and what your contributions are.
Alongside my day-to-day work, I’m also part of JLR’s Islamic Society. They provide prayer facilities and organise various events throughout the year – for example, our ISoc cricket team recently reached the semi-finals of a companywide cricket tournament!
Q: What do you like about working here?
I know it’s a cliché line, but every day is genuinely different. I’ve been lucky enough to have already worked on a variety of projects and to have met so many new people, just in my first year! I’m really looking forward to see where I go next.
Q: What are your career aspirations? Do you feel that you get the necessary support from your management / department to help achieve your learning & development goal?
I receive lots of support and guidance from my manager, mentor and older apprentices and I feel that I’ve already developed a lot because of this. I believe that my current support structure will help me to fulfil my future career ambitions and work my way up through the company.
Q: Describe your team / department, and what makes it stand out from our competition?
In my opinion Vehicle Integration is the best department in the business, due to the large variety of different projects we work on. We work to integrate parts and create compromises between conflicting requirements – as such we work with almost every department in the business. The team are really welcoming and always willing to support apprentices in any way they can!
Q: Tell us 3 interesting facts about yourself.
Outside of work, I enjoy teaching Arabic (I’m not Arab, just love the language!). I’m also a lifeguard and a big foodie.
Q: What hints and tips can you share with the potential candidates who are going through the application / interview process?
My main advice is to be genuine and really sell your experiences – everything is relevant. Every experience in life gives an opportunity for development. Reflect on how your experiences have benefited you and how that would translate to your job at JLR. Consider what you would bring to JLR and how would JLR grow you as a person? Make sure to follow the guidance on the early careers website too, there’s lots of great stuff on there!
