I first discovered JLR’s “Digital Technology Solutions” apprenticeships when I attended the WMG Open Day at the University of Warwick. I talked to one of the JLR representatives about what the apprenticeship has on offer and listened to a presentation, by one of the lecturers, about the brand new building for apprenticeships and the range of companies that base their apprenticeships there.
After visiting the Open Day, I decided that the apprenticeship was the route I wanted to take and I applied at the start of December. As part of the application process I had to complete both an online situational judgement test and an online aptitude test.
As I was successful in both of these assessments and my application met all of the requirements, I was then called to the assessment centre in early January. The assessment centre consisted of three main tasks: an interview, a presentation and a group task.
The interview lasted for 45 minutes and the questions largely focused on how I respond in certain situations and how I work.
The presentation was one-on-one and I chose to present my EPQ project that I have been working on since the start of Y12. My project investigates how cars, as we know them today, will develop over the next decade therefore, it was a perfect choice for the presentation.
The final task was the group task with the other 5 candidates that were there on the day. The task involved choosing one feature, from the range we were given, to implement into a car. After 30 minutes we had to present and explain to the assessors why we chose that specific feature and how it was suitable for the given target audience.
Just over 3 weeks after the assessment day, I was contacted by the recruitment team and I was offered a place on the ‘Software with Data’ Degree Apprenticeship with a very competitive starting salary. I now need to continue working hard at my A-Levels to achieve a B in Maths and a C in Physics to meet the grade requirements of the apprenticeship.
Matt Allman, Headteacher, said: “It cannot be over-emphasised how well Brennan has done to win one of these highly-prized, and highly competitive apprenticeships. We are hugely proud of him and thrilled that his EPQ investigation played such a valuable role in his application process. Brennan is a credit to the school and we are all thrilled for him.”