Having been awarded exclusive work placements with some of the automotive world's top companies, student Oliver Brunt speaks to Richard Yarrow about the experience he's gained from this much-coveted prize. Oliver Brunt admits 22 November last year isn't a day he will forget in a hurry. At the annual SMMT Dinner, in front of the automotive industry's great and good, all black-tie'd up at the Park Lane Hilton, he stood on stage as one of six finalists in the 2011 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award. "When they announced my name as the winner my mind just went blank and I disappeared mentally for about 10 seconds," laughed Oliver. "Getting through to the final six was great, but to win was amazing. The opportunities if s presented to me, for starters." Those are unquestionably impressive. Oliver, on a break from his Industrial Design degree at Northumbria University, has already completed a month's placement at McLaren. When we caught up with him he was working at Peugeot, and from there it's on to Toyota, Skoda and Mercedes-Benz Retail. Despite only being launched in 2009, the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award has become the UK's premier automotive industry talent search. Open to any university student, it offers the winner a unique chance to kick-start their career by quickly filling their contacts book with key industry players.
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