Classmates secured jobs at Toyota after graduation

Four civil engineering students from the School of Engineering (JTH) at Jönköping University all got jobs at Toyota Material Handling in Mjölby shortly after graduation.
"We have known each other since high school, so it is great that we ended up at the same company," says Adrian Svensson.

The classmates Jakob Ahlm, Adrian Svensson, Anton Björk and Benjamin Nilsson Harrelind completed the five-year programme Industrial Product Realisation at JTH last year. They come from Mjölby and all four did their thesis work at Toyota Material Handling, which manufactures warehouse trucks and lifting trolleys. Shortly afterwards, they were offered permanent employment at the company.

"The thesis work was clearly a contributing factor"

"The thesis work was definitely a contributing factor to us getting a job there. I am a mechanical designer in development projects of future truck models at Toyota and I really enjoy it. I have good colleagues and rewarding tasks with a lot of responsibility. I often get to help work on prototypes for different truck models, which I think is fun," says Jakob Ahlm.

He had plans to move home to Mjölby after graduation and says that it felt good to start working at Toyota Material Handling. It is one of the largest employers in Mjölby and the four JTH alumni have all had summer jobs there before.

Great use of their JTH studies

Adrian Svensson mentions that he was in a good position at Toyota Material Handling after his thesis work and that it was obvious for him to apply there.

"It is a market-leading and international company with good development opportunities and I really enjoy working there. I have great use in my current position for what I learned at JTH. It gave me a good foundation, which you then build on with specific knowledge for your professional role. Because the Industrial Product Realisation programme is so broad, you get a good insight into the product development process, especially in the design work. I definitely recommend this programme. Especially to those who are interested in becoming an engineer, but do not really know what field they want to work in," says Adrian Svensson.

"The IPC course was very important"

What had the greatest impact on him during his JTH studies was the Industrial Placement Course (IPC), which he also did at Toyota in Mjölby, for eight weeks.

"During your IPC you really got an insight into what it can be like to work as an engineer. It also led to good contacts and a clear path forward for both the thesis work and future job opportunities, says Adrian Svensson, who is a mechanical designer at Toyota.

Jakob Ahlm also thinks that the IPC course was very rewarding.

"It gave an insight into working life and you had the opportunity to practically apply things you learned during your studies. There are several things from my education that I apply every day at work, such as CAD (Computer-Aided Design) in the construction job and materials science," he says.

"A broad education"

Jakob Ahlm also recommends others to study the Industrial Product Realisation programme at JTH.

"It is a broad education that allows you to work as an engineer in many areas, which is good if you are not sure what you want to do in the future. Look at the four of us, two of us work as designers, one as a test engineer and one as a project manager," says Jakob Ahlm.

Julia Trolle is the programme manager for the Industrial Product Development programme at JTH.