Internship solution helps Group 1 Jaguar Land Rover navigate the skills shortage

Group 1 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has become the latest dealership to partner with Autotech Academy and take on an intern in a bid to counteract the challenges of employing skilled vehicle technicians.

Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical experience within the automotive industry is a critical challenge, but exploring a new route to harness talent has enabled the JLR site in North West London to successfully grow its team. 

Autotech Academy offers a unique, 6-12 month paid internship program for newly qualified Level 3 automotive students – which paves the way for them to secure a permanent role within the sector.

By equipping interns with a uniform and toolbox, which becomes theirs to keep if they successfully secure an automotive role upon completing the internship, Autotech Academy not only eases the transition from education to professional work but also makes the recruitment of young talent easier for employers.

Ahmed Mahamud joined JLR as an Autotech Academy intern in June 2023 after qualifying from college and has now been employed by them permanently. “The internship has been a great success for us,” comments Kevin Grimes Service Manager at the Group One Jaguar Land Rover site.

“Ahmed joined us raw from college, and he immediately showed the right attitude and was keen. He had no preconceived ideas of how to adapt to a workplace setting after being in full-time education, so we have instilled this within him, and he has adjusted well to our way of working and the JLR standards. We need more people like him.”

Ankeet Shah, Service Administrator for the JLR site, adds: “The process with Autotech Academy takes away a significant step in the recruitment of a young person as each intern is screened and interviewed to ensure they are a good fit.” 

This pre-screening ensures that interns like Ahmed are well-matched to a company's needs, making them great assets to the team.

While offering a practical route into the industry, an intern requires less mentorship than a traditional apprentice, a common misconception by time-poor, industry employers.

While often lacking experience, each intern holds the theoretical knowledge which fast-tracks their development into a fully skilled vehicle technician. To enable this, a mentor is allocated by the employer to work alongside the intern.

With JLR, the mentorship model adopted for Ahmed, and will be replicated for all future interns, involved pairing him with senior technicians during the first week to shadow and assist in progressively complex tasks.