School of Engineering students’ success at Year in Industry Awards Evening
Four School of Engineering students were among seven finalists celebrated at the recent Year In Industry (YinI) Awards Evening, with Mechanical Engineer Luke Britton crowned winner. The event, organised by the Careers and Employability Team, celebrates the remarkable achievements of our students during their placements, highlighting their dedication, growth, and success.
All the students did a fantastic job, with each presenting an overview of their placement to a panel of judges. Luke impressed with his presentation of his year with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), where he improved the application of self-healing, protective car wraps. As part of the placement, he ran a tour of their factory complex in Halewood for fellow University of Liverpool students, as well as sharing his experience at STEM fairs. He supported BBC Bitesize on their schools’ tours and visited local schools to encourage young people to get involved with STEM. He is also planning to link his final year project to a research project for JLR. Luke reflected: “From my experience at JLR, I feel much more confident to go back into the world of work post university. I have gained connections in industry, valuable engineering skills and knowledge, and plenty of soft skills from team working to presenting that have made me a much more well-rounded candidate for the job market.”
Our other School of Engineering finalists gave great insights into their placements with Moog UK, Drax Global and GSK. Common themes included increased confidence, leadership skills and resilience, learning how to stand by an idea, integrating into a workplace culture and making an impact on real world problems.
Dr Tim Joyce, the School of Engineering’s Year in Industry Coordinator, said:
“Two things stood out for me, that being given a responsible role in a company helped students develop a broad range of skills, and that it can be a guaranteed route to a graduate role with that company.”
The catchily named Mini-YinI followed a few days after, an event specifically aimed at first year students. The aim is to engage students who are planning to undertake a placement year as early as possible, giving them a head start with companies who start recruiting before students reach second year. Over seventy first year students attended, forty-five of them from the School of Engineering. The evening began with a brief introduction to the Careers Studio, and an overview of the YinI programme.
The student panel included three of our YinI Awards finalists. They shared their experience before answering audience questions on the application process, practical issues such as accommodation and commuting, and what they had learned. Two representatives from JLR provided guidance from the employer perspective.
Dr Joyce’s message to first year students is that: “It’s never too early to start researching the companies you might be interested in and taking along a CV to the University’s Careers Studio to get advice on how you can improve it or adjust it for specific companies. The student panel also mentioned helpful online resources, which are all in the guide produced by the Careers and Employability Team.” Current students can access the guide via the Handshake Portal.