RE: Fancy working for McLaren
Discussion
MikeGoodwin said:
In the IT sector at least McLaren has a poor reputation. Pay is low too. I also know people who have worked and work there in other sectors and have known the working hours leading up to model releases become eye watering. By that I mean soul destroying.
That'll be every week then ... 
snorkel sucker said:
I'm surprised that people are surprised it's not a glorious place to work.
- They have a fastidious, uncompromising client base
- They have a reputation to uphold in manufacturing, motor racing and brand association (all of whom are also fastidious, uncompromising clients)
- Their products are expected to be meticulously engineered and of the highest quality
- Their products are in high demand from demanding clients
- Time is critical; I suspect they are a 24/7 company
- Ron Dennis was uncompromising in his pursuit of excellence and I suspect that legacy still lives on
Notwithstanding the above, I expect they are still inundated with CVs (hence not replying to everyone, but then, what company does?!). I also suspect that many people are happy to tolerate all of the above for the trade off that their CV says 'McLaren Automotive' on it.
A job where you get the best out of yourself may be demanding and tiring, but it's also satisfying, not frustrating as has been described above. High standards are no excuse for treating people poorly, quite the opposite.- They have a fastidious, uncompromising client base
- They have a reputation to uphold in manufacturing, motor racing and brand association (all of whom are also fastidious, uncompromising clients)
- Their products are expected to be meticulously engineered and of the highest quality
- Their products are in high demand from demanding clients
- Time is critical; I suspect they are a 24/7 company
- Ron Dennis was uncompromising in his pursuit of excellence and I suspect that legacy still lives on
Notwithstanding the above, I expect they are still inundated with CVs (hence not replying to everyone, but then, what company does?!). I also suspect that many people are happy to tolerate all of the above for the trade off that their CV says 'McLaren Automotive' on it.
Mclaren is one of the most successful UK F1 teams.
It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
F1 Racing said:
Mclaren is one of the most successful UK F1 teams.
It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
From what I understand, the F1 team and McLaren automotive are two totally different places to work. The main issue is McLaren automotive think they’re the F1 team and treat everyone with zero respect.It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
RacerMike said:
From what I understand, the F1 team and McLaren automotive are two totally different places to work. The main issue is McLaren automotive think they’re the F1 team and treat everyone with zero respect.
This exactly. My best mate worked in the database team for a couple of years and hated it. I'd get daily emails about how management were shocking in how they treated staff, cut budgets to dangerous levels and generally demoralized everyone with their attitude. It was basically 'you work for Mclaren, you're not here to enjoy the role' and never showed any concern around the high staff turn over every month. He didn't meet anyone else who stayed more than a year. One guy even left after 3 hours which kinda says it all.
asci.white said:
RacerMike said:
From what I understand, the F1 team and McLaren automotive are two totally different places to work. The main issue is McLaren automotive think they’re the F1 team and treat everyone with zero respect.
This exactly. My best mate worked in the database team for a couple of years and hated it. I'd get daily emails about how management were shocking in how they treated staff, cut budgets to dangerous levels and generally demoralized everyone with their attitude. It was basically 'you work for Mclaren, you're not here to enjoy the role' and never showed any concern around the high staff turn over every month. He didn't meet anyone else who stayed more than a year. One guy even left after 3 hours which kinda says it all.
F1 Racing said:
Mclaren is one of the most successful UK F1 teams.
It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
I'll just take one exception with this.It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
Was. WAS one of the most successful UK F1 teams. Also, see various other commentaries; McF1 and McAuto are very different atmospheres. McF1 is the poster child used to lure people in. McAuto is the beaten half to death, bled dry money pit it's funded from.
MikeGoodwin said:
In the IT sector at least McLaren has a poor reputation. Pay is low too. I also know people who have worked and work there in other sectors and have known the working hours leading up to model releases become eye watering. By that I mean soul destroying.
The comments in this forum back this up it seems
Good luck.
Also lol at the guy moaning he never heard back..
Why lol? I was responding to a specific advert so they were clearly looking for someone. It wasn’t speculative. The comments in this forum back this up it seems
Good luck.
Also lol at the guy moaning he never heard back..
My point is that when they can’t even be arsed to send a quick email to an applicant for quite a niche role at their company and are not prepared to let you contact them about it, that doesn’t leave a good first impression or send the right message about what sort of company they are.
Your profession may be full of gits where it is normal to act that way, but in mine, it’s not the norm.
F1 Racing said:
Mclaren is one of the most successful UK F1 teams.
It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
Not the experience of a good friend who has just left after working there 30 years.It's a demanding industry, and hence a company to work for.
If it's not for you, then go and get a job at another back of the grid F1 UK team!!
I worked for McLaren Racing for 5 years and loved it, before anyone states, I don't know what I'm talking about!
Great bunch of guys and team!
They've become an absolute joke since Ron left.
From working at m-sport for 5 years I have gained a few friends within the motorsport community. A lot of lads use m-sport as a stepping stone to F1 or technical jobs at McLaren etc. Everyone I know that made the move to McLaren swiftly left or came back. Appalling company to work for. Mercedes F1 has always gained the best reviews from others
Digger said:
Reciprocating mass said:
Surprised the thread hasn’t been locked yet tbh
Ironically, the article is Naming, the thread is Shaming. 
It would also be amusing if McLaren were consulted & / or gave the go-ahead for this article. Almost as if they expected to get a positive response!
Cut & pasted from the last thread! 
daddy cool said:
I did a couple of months there in the summer of 2017, after being made redundant at P&G, though based at MSO in Old Woking, rather than the new site, and in a supply chain role. Not that P&G was particularly "modern" in its work/life balance principles, but I was immediately struck by how old fashioned McLaren was - ie, you have to stay there till at least 5.30pm, regardless of whether (like me) you were in at 7am to miss the traffic. Could understand it in certain roles, but what I was doing could be done in SAP at any hour of the day... it was all about how it "looked" to management, rather than results.
I would get filthy looks when I left (in their opinion) early, even though I was simultaneously b
ked for exceeding 40hrs on my contractors timesheet.
My Manager was pathetic, and his manager a ball-busting control freak that needed "report A done by 10am", but also needed you to email her to say you had done the report, and ideally also verbally tell her that you had emailed her to tell her you'd done the report. FFS!
The parking at MSO was pretty bad (but I was in early, so always bagged a space) but the main site is nuts - if you work there you are usually boxed in by 3/4/5 cars, and need to phone all the owners to come out and shuffle theirs around if you go early. It takes about 10 mins to get across site.... apparently the original staff expected was ~2000 and Woking Borough Council agreed to a carpark of ~1500 to encourage getting in by public transport. I think the current staff is around ~3000... you do the math!
On my first day - an induction at the MTC - I was amazed that it was about 20 people starting at the same time, and that's a regular thing. The turnover is shocking...
It was a 2 month contract with a pretty clear understanding it would go permanent, but just before the 2 months were up i'd had enough of being treated like a child and told them im not intending to stay on.
On the plus side, it was quite a treat to see behind the scenes, as I was there during the F1 season, and im glad I was in the MSO department, as my interest is more in the older cars and the weird and wonderful customisations being done in the garage underneath my office. They had just flogged their F1 GTR (for ~30 million) and it was being prepped I was wandering around it like I was in a Volkswagen dealer showroom... plus there were cars being trimmed in dubious colour schemes for Michael Fux and others... some of the stories I heard from the mechanics were hilarious.
I found a permanent job soon after, and having "McLaren" on the CV (albeit briefly) is a conversation starter if your interviewer likes their cars! Would I work there again? No chance!
I would get filthy looks when I left (in their opinion) early, even though I was simultaneously b
ked for exceeding 40hrs on my contractors timesheet.My Manager was pathetic, and his manager a ball-busting control freak that needed "report A done by 10am", but also needed you to email her to say you had done the report, and ideally also verbally tell her that you had emailed her to tell her you'd done the report. FFS!
The parking at MSO was pretty bad (but I was in early, so always bagged a space) but the main site is nuts - if you work there you are usually boxed in by 3/4/5 cars, and need to phone all the owners to come out and shuffle theirs around if you go early. It takes about 10 mins to get across site.... apparently the original staff expected was ~2000 and Woking Borough Council agreed to a carpark of ~1500 to encourage getting in by public transport. I think the current staff is around ~3000... you do the math!
On my first day - an induction at the MTC - I was amazed that it was about 20 people starting at the same time, and that's a regular thing. The turnover is shocking...
It was a 2 month contract with a pretty clear understanding it would go permanent, but just before the 2 months were up i'd had enough of being treated like a child and told them im not intending to stay on.
On the plus side, it was quite a treat to see behind the scenes, as I was there during the F1 season, and im glad I was in the MSO department, as my interest is more in the older cars and the weird and wonderful customisations being done in the garage underneath my office. They had just flogged their F1 GTR (for ~30 million) and it was being prepped I was wandering around it like I was in a Volkswagen dealer showroom... plus there were cars being trimmed in dubious colour schemes for Michael Fux and others... some of the stories I heard from the mechanics were hilarious.
I found a permanent job soon after, and having "McLaren" on the CV (albeit briefly) is a conversation starter if your interviewer likes their cars! Would I work there again? No chance!
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