Son looking for work experience in car industry for a week

[mikefacel]

I'd appreciate any thoughts or help anyone can offer. My 15 year old son has been properly indoctrinated by me whilst growing up and is car mad, seemingly incessantly reading mags/books or watching videos, or playing driving games. Indeed, he seems to have a much wider knowledge of car models, specifications and manufacturers than I have, from new cars and motorsport to supercars and classics. His school requires him to do some work experience for a week from 5th to 9th June and he has been contacting car manufactures/dealerships but with little success (he needs to have it in place by 3rd March) - it seems very difficult to actually get the contact details of or get through to the right person. We're in Twickenham ,south west London, but anywhere in London or Surrey/Sussex/Berkshire/Hampshire would be of interest - I'll get him there on time for work! Ideally he would get access to various parts of the business rather than manning the photocopier. Although I'm obviously biased, he's a bright lad, is confident, has good manners, and wants to do well for himself so is very motivated.

Unfortunately I don't have any contacts in the industry. Are there any suggestions as to how he could approach this or companies that might be amenable? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[93DW]

What side of the Business is he interested in? Sales Or Workshop?

[Yipper]

You have left it very late. Most of the best slots, at places like Aston Martin, tend to go 9-18 months before the work-experience week. Your best bet at this late stage is to pick up the phone (not email) and call the HR departments of 30-50 carmakers, dealers, raceteams, software developers, etc. and give them a sob-story and hope something crops up. Or just ring up a few backstreet garages or aftermarket tuners and see if they have anything handy.

[stumpage]

Yipper said:

You have left it very late. Most of the best slots, at places like Aston Martin, tend to go 9-18 months before the work-experience week. Your best bet at this late stage is for him to pick up the phone (not email) and call the HR departments of 30-50 carmakers, dealers, raceteams, software developers, etc. and give them a sob-story and hope something crops up. Or just ring up a few backstreet garages or aftermarket tuners and see if they have anything handy.

I know it's tough for a youngster to communicate verbally nowadays (text and e-mail to norm) but if he phones he will be taken a lot more seriously. Why not try smaller engineering companies who work within the motor industry or Motor Sport.

[MDMA .]

And at that age, the garage/premises might have to go through CRB ( DBS ) checks for whoever is looking after/mentoring him. We had to do it when we had a school kid in ( one of the thickos/naughty class kids ). All takes time to get the wheels in motion. At 15, he'd probably only be stood around, twiddling his thumbs. Doubt they would let him work on anything from a risk point of view.

If you were up North, he could spend a week at my place.

[mikefacel]

93DW said:

What side of the Business is he interested in? Sales Or Workshop?

He's more interested in the sales side 93DW.

Thanks everyone for your comments! He has been calling dealerships but usually gets fobbed off with an email to someone in HR that is then not replied to sadly. He's chasing those emails up though.

[Yarders91]

Back when i did my work experience as a kid (2006) i was placed at a bus garage for a well known company.
Admittedly i picked what was left to choose from what the school itself offered as my first choice fell through due to insurance and CRB checks needed and it was too late for me to organise anything else.

For the most part of it i was just sat around watching people do the spannering / body work. Despite my keenness to get stuck in and the want to learn they were very reluctant to let me get my hands on tools for even the most basic jobs.
For the two weeks i was with them i was allowed to filler, sand, mask and spray some damaged bumpers that had been pranged by and that was about as much 'hands on' as i got. the rest was just washing busses down.

I imagine the lack of time on tools was more to do with insurance if anything went pete tong and the company just wasnt willing to take on any risk despite being 100% supervised by one of their most trusted and senior mechanics. Being on the other side of mentoring work experience students now i now understand why, the kids we have come through can only touch stuff we use as training aids and even then it can seem a bit dull getting them to work on the same pieces of equipment over and over with no variety like you would have on 'live' kit.

I hope your kid finds something in the end that he will enjoy and learn a lot from. Can certainly get a spark going if he's with the right people and willing to take him under their wing.

[21TonyK]

When my daughter was looking for work experience in architecture she door-stepped all the local practices. Pretty ballsy for a 14/15 year old but she ended up in front of a partner in a local practice and spent a week followed by every school holiday for the next 3 years working along side them.

Dress smart and get in front of the boss. If they say yes everyone else has to fall in line.

[mikefacel]

Thanks for the replies guys, some good info/advice. I think I'll encourage him to visit the local dealers - he's researching it as we speak. Cheers.

[edc]

Go down the A3 and volunteer at Brooklands?

[Vaud]

Dress smartly, have an opening patter, doorstep the DP/sales manager. The good ones will admire persistence and initiative.

[mikefacel]

edc said:

Go down the A3 and volunteer at Brooklands?

Good idea, cheers.

[mikefacel]

Vaud said:

Dress smartly, have an opening patter, doorstep the DP/sales manager. The good ones will admire persistence and initiative.

Cheers, I think that's the main strategy we're going for. I'll be driving him round the dealerships and he can go in with his CV and try to speak to the right people.

[ChasW]

Depending on how far he's willing to travel and what you're prepared to pay, you are striking distance of the HQs of BMW, Porsche, Lexus and MB at Brooklands as mentioned. I know this because one of my daughters applied for a Uni internship at most of them. If they take work experience youngsters it's worth him ringing their HR departments to see if there have been any drop outs. It happens.

[mikefacel]

ChasW said:

Depending on how far he's willing to travel and what you're prepared to pay, you are striking distance of the HQs of BMW, Porsche, Lexus and MB at Brooklands as mentioned. I know this because one of my daughters applied for a Uni internship at most of them. If they take work experience youngsters it's worth him ringing their HR departments to see if there have been any drop outs. It happens.

Cheers Chas - will get him on the case.

[Y8RSP]

It may be an idea contacting Prodrive...
When I was there we always had work experience/interns in the workshop... It's worth phoning them and seeing if anything is available.

[mikefacel]

Y8RSP said:

It may be an idea contacting Prodrive...
When I was there we always had work experience/interns in the workshop... It's worth phoning them and seeing if anything is available.

Thanks for that, will check it out - he'd love to work there but it's a bit too far although maybe he could stay with friends nearby. Worth a try. Cheers.

[ChrisDT]

If he is looking for office/sales type placement he would be better off contacting the specialists rather tahn the main agent as he would see more of the buying/prep process.

[AlexHat]

When I first did work experience (same age as your son) I went round all my local garages until one said yes. Caused no end of headaches for the school organising the health and safety side but I didn't care. I just didn't want to end up stuck in an office for a week filing.

I got to be more hands on as the week progressed though most of my time was standing around watching whoever I was shadowing/making tea