Anyone ever worked for Jaguar?

[Nobby]

Right heres my story i started my apprenticeship 5 years ago at a little independent garage and im now level 2 and level 3 nvq qualified. However my garage closed in february due lack of work, since then ive been working at a engine reconditioners where ive been paid cash in hand :roll:. I recently had a bost up with the gaffer after i asked him for 4 days off and he had a paddy so i went on direct gov and found out what i was entitled to and when he found out i had looked for what i was entitled to he had a paddy and had a major go at me f'in and blinding bla bla bla. So now hes paid me my holiday and my last weeks wages told me im not contracted and now im on hol and should start back monday. However ive been applying for jobs and had a phone call this morning from an agency saying they found a suitable placement for me this is working as a junior technican at jaguar in wolverhampton and he phoned the service manager and he wants to see me monday for an interview at 3pm. So do i sack the engine place off and go for Jaguar or stop where im working Jaguar is £2k more a year plus bonus? . . . :thumb:

[jdm_]

F*** him off and work for jag ! more career prospects there too

[Sloth]

do the jag job, but be aware it will be alot of diag work and elec stuff. xkr's tho...... mmmmmmmmmmm

[novautd]

you would be mad not to go for the jag job imo, once you have dealer experiance you can go anywhere you like really, working for jag has i would think alot better carrier prospects aswell.

[Southie]

Have you got some decent references to take to the Jaguar interview?
Would your current employer be okay to give you a reference, otherwise it will look like you've not been working for a while.

[John]

go for the jag job! Any other future employers will like the fact that you've worked in a main dealer.

[88ESR]

Grab the Jag job..

Listen to whatever information you are told..

Try to learn every single aspect of the job..

Back in my Vauxhall days some of our lot were scared to death of diagnostic and electronic work..

The more you pick up, the further you'll go!

Good luck and remember to enjoy the experience!

[NovaLad]

Be warned!!! Agency work alot of the time doesn't mean you will have a job at the end of it...
When i did agency work they was meant to write you up a contract and offer you a job if you was still there 13 weeks later but they never did with anyone!
Their was people there doing agency work for about 8 or 9 months with no job offer then we all got laid off 2 weeks before christmas so was skint then all christmas.

[bmw156]

my supervisor used to work at jag. he was designing the robots that were on the producton line, and making sure the robots wouldnt clash, and he also designed the rear door hinge on one of th newer jags.

i think he got made redundant when they were aving a big cut back.

[Stuart]

no offence, but those who have mentioned it, what career prospects are there in a main dealer tech role?

Diagnostics is a piece of piss (computer says no, or yes), warranty work is 99% of the time approved (unless its the particular dealer in that neck of the woods who did 'remaps' to customer cars, causing thermal events and trying to blag it as warrany failures lol), Odds on you wont be able to drive any of the cars till your 25 though (Thats how it was for Engieering anyway)

I'd get the new job(a new job) then grass the engine place up for cash in hand dodgyness.... :)

[jdm_]

Be warned!!! Agency work alot of the time doesn't mean you will have a job at the end of it...
When i did agency work they was meant to write you up a contract and offer you a job if you was still there 13 weeks later but they never did with anyone!
Their was people there doing agency work for about 8 or 9 months with no job offer then we all got laid off 2 weeks before christmas so was skint then all christmas.

Sounds just like my case with an agency. There not a lot of use..
been on one for 9 months now and still not tried to help me let alone find me employment. Gotta be careful what your getting into, the last job i got with an agency everyone got laid off too 2 weeks before they were meant to sort out contracts.. but some might be different

[Stuart]

oh and with agency work, goto the HR department/Resource manager where ever you are working and offer to go full time with them and split the difference between what you get and the agency rate (odds on The place you are working at is paying 50% more than you get ;) )

I've done it quite a few times in the past, worked out nicely for all involved except the agencies, but then they are scumbags along with Estate Agents lol

[jdm_]

no offence, but those who have mentioned it, what career prospects are there in a main dealer tech role?

Diagnostics is a piece of piss (computer says no, or yes), warranty work is 99% of the time approved (unless its the particular dealer in that neck of the woods who did 'remaps' to customer cars, causing thermal events and trying to blag it as warrany failures lol), Odds on you wont be able to drive any of the cars till your 25 though (Thats how it was for Engieering anyway)

I'd get the new job(a new job) then grass the engine place up for cash in hand dodgyness.... :)

Fair enough its easy work and not very involved, but if you've worked for Jag surely thats far better for your CV than working in some village garage or whatever. To me, someone would appeal more if they've worked for a main dealer regardless of what works undertaken. But saying that i've never worked in the industry..

[Stuart]

I'm not saying dotn work at a main dealer, but I just dont 'get' what progress up any ladder can be made in one thats all...

[Balley]

In my opinion main dealers are useless. My mate had a lad from Jag (level 2 2nd year) ask him to a fit an induction kit on his Corsa 1.2 :/

Am trained in a independent garage and had the chance to work at a Volvo/Land Rover dealer for a month... So I took the offer up...

Wow, major wake up call for me, all they do is servicing and none of the lads Know anything compared to my bosses or even me in that matter.. but the thing what really made me laugh was they still thought they were better than me!!

BUT and its a big But,.. You might get a pension, decent holidays/ working hours, etc

If I were you I think I would take the job, try it for six months, and if you don't like it go some where else.

At the end of the day its still work, and you will get experience and it will look good on your CV...

[jdm_]

I'm not saying dotn work at a main dealer, but I just dont 'get' what progress up any ladder can be made in one thats all...

Think progress depends more on the person over the job placement but Jag still sounds more appealing to me. Even if the works not as mechanically involved, its 2K a year more for easier work. That's a new Nova paid for..

[Sloth]

I'm not saying dotn work at a main dealer, but I just dont 'get' what progress up any ladder can be made in one thats all...

if your a crap tech, plenty, if your a great tech none. good techs stay on the shop floor as they are too invaluable, **** ones get promoted out the way.
i had to become an insurance assesor to get into management....:thumb:

[Sloth]

p.s, stu what was they doing to "remap" the cars?

[Stuart]

All main dealers have the tools to reflash new calibraitons into ECU's as the manufacturers update them over life, some dealers obtain the 'remap' files from the likes of stupidchips etc and throw them in for some customers... However getting caught usually means having your franchise revoked, although I believe the one that got caught flambe'ing X types just got a massive fine since sales are important to JLR lol

[Sloth]

nice, i remember when i was at toyota, one of the other techs had a celica 190, which got a jap spec map uploaded and it jumped to 230..... kept talking to the diag tester in japanese afterwards tho. ferkin thing.... went alot better mind.

[muzzy]

I've never worked for Jaguar but I did work for Vauxhall so can only go by that. Main dealer's are a good place to work from a job security point of view, the work can get quite tedious though as your generally only working on a select few models and you will end up doing the same thing over and over and over again. If I wasn't looking to move away from the motor trade I would go back to a dealer again.

[Rich]

Go for the jag job. Secure, you will be on the books, get qualifications on paper (which is what counts!) and it will look better on your cv for future jobs

[Nobby]

cheers for the advice guys! im going all guns blazing on monday, basically i have 5 years experience in a independent garage and they already have there "top techs" but would like someone with relevent experience who can learn the diagnostics and electrics side something you dont usually get these days in your little garages like where i have worked. ill let you all know how i get on! fingers crossed!!!

[MattBrown]

Go for it, suit etc for the interview.

Seems a tidy little job tbh, playing with computers, and 3 year old cars?

No rust, nothing hard to do really.

Its senior mechanics who do belts, heads etc is it not?

[Sloth]

Its senior mechanics who do belts, heads etc is it not?

no any trained tech does that matt its called being a mechanic.

best of luck nobby, fingers crossed fer ya dude!