This summer, 27 undergraduate students have joined Pinewood Technologies, eager to pour their energy into a career in automotive technology, embarking on a year-long placement with one of the UK’s leading DMS providers.

Each year Pinewood carefully selects a group of undergraduates from the UK’s best universities to join their popular business and software development placement schemes (which in 2019 had over a thousand applicants), with the expectation that most will return upon completion of their degrees. This year’s intake is a record in undergrad recruitment for the global DMS business.

The business-focused students will work in a variety of roles throughout their ‘year-in-industry’, whilst software engineering students will be given development projects, working directly on improving the DMS and Pinewood’s role-based apps. Those who show potential, and add value for customers, can expect the offer of a role after graduation; their placement acting as a working interview.

As Pinewood continues the path of international growth, this demonstrates a commitment to invest in the next generation of experts.

“Hiring undergraduates is crucial for our business,” explains Kiran Kundra, HR Business Partner. “We invest time and effort to identify where they’d be best placed to learn the most and deliver optimum value for our customers. We’ve retained a skilled base of senior staff and people who are now leaders, who started with us on placement and now contribute significantly to the performance of our company. Today, 20% of our workforce are students, which brings our business fresh perspectives and helps us to keep our customers on top.”

Pinewood’s 27 undergraduates will learn how the DMS business is adapting to the rapidly changing marketplace. This provides young people with an opportunity to make an impact, by involving them in Pinewood’s latest innovations to provide dealers with new profit opportunities and higher margins.