automotive technician

car sales executive

administrator

service advisor

parking attendant

I am a project engineer in the Jaguar Land Rover product development seating department. My job is to manage a seat design from paper to mass production, something which I am currently doing with three new Jaguars. I liaise with engineering teams responsible for other parts of the car, financial teams, testing teams, suppliers and quality teams to name but a few.

To be honest, I don’t have a normal working day! Typically I’d arrive at 7:30, check through my emails and prioritize my work for the day. The day could then be spent visiting a supplier, attending meetings with other teams or reacting to whatever the day brings. There may be some travel between sites, or travel to university if I’m recruiting. An average finish time would be 16:30. Friday is a 12:30 finish (perks of the industry, although this is now changing for a lot of people).

I enjoy coming into work knowing that each day might be different to the last. The variety of the job keeps you on your toes (as well as my day job I work with university recruitment teams, mentor undergraduates and work with local schools). The best thing about the job is developing something that you know will eventually go into a car which will be driven by people all over the globe

In my job, everyone wants something different, and each team has their own agenda. For example working on a small vehicle, there is limited space so each component owner works to get the best they can get! The other challenge is time management - there is a huge amount of work to fit into a small space of time, and this is extremely difficult to manage when you are called to lots of different meetings, all more important than the last!

I left university and because of the impending economic downturn there were very few automotive industry jobs available. To get an engineering job at all I had to search for four months, whilst doing contract jobs to keep me going. If you keep searching and applying though, you will get where you want to go! The market now is tougher because more graduates are applying, but it’s not impossible!

A typical work day begins with a one-to-one with the CEO, or EVP of Operations to discuss priorities for the day, week, month, and upcoming events. The work environment is fast-paced and I am usually busy most of the day.  As the Gate Keeper/Executive Liaison, I answer routine inquiries and provide assistance to internal and external personnel and business associates as authorized.  I also draft and disseminate communication to appropriate managers, executives, and peers throughout the organization.  Most of my day consists of managing three complex calendars, scheduling and coordinating internal and external domestic and global meetings in varied time zones, and conducting site visits for events.  

In addition, I arrange conference calls and video conferences.  Review action items to ensure comprehensive and coordinated responses are sent. 

Often, I arrange and coordinate air and ground transportation for global and domestic travel, as well as prepare expense reports.

My managers have varied management styles and are very engaged in the business and my co-workers are the most dedicated employees I know and many of them go above and beyond to accomplish whatever task they are given.

The hardest part of my job is there just not enough hours in the day as well as to get all the executives in one place at the same time and what I enjoy the most is when, I have exceeded expectations of my managers and have accomplished all of the tasks given.

A typical day in the sales dept,  is a daily meeting of a demeanor, and berating. You're made to feel less than subhuman. The vibes there are in the toilet. I never worked with a group of people who would rather be anywhere else in the world, but there.  I was told that I would make a lot of money fast, But how can you when the upper management keeps stealing from the salespeople. The market adjustment is between 10-20K plus they force the customer to purchase unwanted or unnecessary protection products at an additional cost of 5k, and they never share the profits with the hard working sales person.  You get below minimum wage as a base pay,  and you have got to really work extra hard to sell a car. 
The hardest part of working there is lying to a customer regarding the reason they need to take the vehicle with a supposed product added to the car. I went to the detail side and was told they don't put any product on any of the vehicles there, unless they have been asked to.  There was nothing enjoyable about being at this dealership. I've stayed for nearly a month, and left. The place is really a bad joke. I was told there isn't such a thing called Holiday Pay. If a holiday is coming up, then all days off has been suspended and you are to use that holiday as a day off.  What a scam!

A typical day at work is usually slow (during my shift) but it varies from time to time. Working there has helped me to learn to deal with people of different calibers (high maintenance, low maintenance, rude, wealthy, poor, etc). In my time working there, management has always been a little iffy and there are always a lot of things that get changed without communication. Management is not always knowledgable about everything, leaving lower level employees to sometimes figure things out for themselves. It is something Ive grown used to at this point and I've learned that i have to be self sufficient sometimes. Most of my fellow employees are great to work with. The hardest part of the job is sitting at a desk all day with not much work to do. I get restless and sometimes just end up making work for myself out of boredom, or just sitting there with nothing to do. The most enjoyable part of the job is getting to interact with different people, seeing the many different types of Rovers that customers sometimes build, and occasionally we get some celebrities that come in.

If you apply for the service advisor position you will not get any training on software or warranties they let you sink on your own all the writers are in their own world too busy to care to help or see if everything is ok. The only support given was from the service manager who is no longer there. Culture is full of young minded people full of negative attitudes and vibes and they will talk about you in spanish even tho you speak the language. Everyone except parts and tech were pretty nasty. Parts and techs shouldn't have to help you when you have 2 writers next to you. If you want to be in a miserable environment go right ahead apply just watch out the other writers like to take all the night drops and will not share lol. Salty people.
That vibe has been given since day one. For no reason I have no idea what I did to the writers and their cashiers for them to be the way they where. I have been around childish behaviors in the industry but never like this. Its ridiculous I WISH them luck. They needed me more then I needed them. So sad


The overall company is pretty good just a few places are filled with politics that you just can't seem to keep out of no matter what you do. Get used to seeing certain people get taken care of while your sent to the wolves. Shop managers are key, with few being sincere and truthful make absolutely sure to get everything in writing and trust no one and don't even get me started on the managers little pet mole spy who will do anything to keep it in their mouth. To have a good manager will absolutely make the job a career but No matter how much effort or dedication you put in remember you are always just an employee, and you may not be replaceable, but you can be removable. Bottom line i've seen a lot of people get removed unfairly, cut-throat place with zero loyalty. just planning my escape. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
They have a good schedule/hours of operation

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything here is stressful. Pay is extremely inconsistent. Leadership is a joke. The GM doesn't have any real experience and the owner is just a rich kid following dad's footsteps and has never been in the business

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment is awful. No one takes charge and no one is held accountable. Employees are consistently late and no one cares. There is no work ethic from anyone.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day here is extremely boring. Phones ring but it's mostly for part or service. Not a lot of customers walking in the door and the ones that do are asking for vehicles that aren't in inventory and won't be for a long time.

What is the best part of working at the company?
When they finally got management in place things got better. But this place is very cheap for the product they sell and they have zero support staff to help you do your job. E. I. Voicemail systems separate lines to your desks plus the owner is always involved and will cut you loss for the simplest mistakes.  They are constantly taking money out of your check for csi even if it's not something that you could've done and out of your control. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of support and constantly being worried about being fired. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not very good. The people are great that you work with but the culture is very back stabbing.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Hectic and total lack of support from your colleagues.

A typical day consists of team motivational meetings, client prospecting through cold calling, internet leads, referrals and previous client contact. Product knowledge and innovative product introduction through videos, walk arounds and test drives.
I learned that Pre Owned vehicles are just as good an investment as New!! Sometimes smarter!!
My co-workers were awesome!! We had a fun sales team everyone helped each other, although we each had our own competitive edge we meshed well !! My manager was Crazy fun, and stern !!
The hardest part of the job was trying to make people understand why the Jaguar does not need to be AWD to function well in Michigan.
The most enjoyable part of the job was sending beautiful New and Pre Owned Jaguars and rambunctiuos Land Rovers home with their new owners.

A few months after moving into the new shop, it was disgusting. This is because: The janitor didn't clean, there was no mop available for us to use, and the one broom was stored in another department. We'd been told we couldn't go into that area because we intimidate them, and couldn't talk to the people who could because they are "not our friends." That level of dysfunction applies to every part of this horrible, awful, no good dealership. Avoid at all costs.

Although they did overpay me roughly $5k due to a clerical error, so that was sweet. And there was little enough work that there was never any overtime.

On the national level: the parts catalogues, repair instructions, and other such documentation were routinely inaccurate, incomplete, and otherwise indadequate.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Automotive technician 12 salaries reported	$30.83 per hour
Car sales executive 6 salaries reported	$110,083 per year
Administrator 4 salaries reported	$24.00 per hour
Service advisor 5 salaries reported	$76,300 per year
Parking attendant 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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