Rebecca - Physics Student

"Being a physics student, I didn’t necessarily have much engineering hands-on experience- we had labs where I dealt with some circuitry and machinery but nothing quite like what Cummins does. So, both my lack of hands-on experience and the fact that I was a science student and not engineering did worry me at first as I assumed that I would be lagging behind all the other interns. However thankfully, that was not the case at all! I have found that being a non-engineering student was not a disadvantage to me which was a huge relief- instead, it allows me to tackle problems from a different perspective which is always useful. Additionally, if there was anything I didn’t understand, help was always available to me. Everybody I’ve worked with has been willing to sit with me and work through any issue I have, show me where I can find certain documents and how to use them and so much more, which has been a huge help and allowed me to become more settled in my role.

My recruitment process was actually the best out of all the internships I applied for. So many companies either never replied to me or if they did, they took a very long time to respond and made me feel like they didn’t care about my time or effort. Cummins responded to me faster than anyone else and made me feel like I was important to them which was great.

I am currently really enjoying my internship- I have learned so much, worked on some interesting projects and have been able to experience what working for a company as big as Cummins is like. The people are lovely, and you get the sense that they all really care about you and what is best for you.

A tip for current candidates from me is to look at what makes you different (non-engineering student, if you’re not local to Huddersfield, if you haven’t worked in an engineering company before etc) as a good thing rather than a disadvantage. Working as a team is all about bringing your unique perspective and what makes you different could actually be and usually is a huge advantage."