Commercial and Finance Summer Intern

Tahmid Ali

Finance

Internship (1 Month+)

L'Oreal

Describe your role and what it entails

With commercial there’s no one day which is the same, I worked with all the different functions from Urban Decay and Kiehl’s which gave me such a good insight into the business of luxury. One day I would be supporting national account managers with ADHOC requests and the next I would be working with the sales team on innovating new product launches. There is so much that goes on in my role from tracking sales figures to even working on an IRI strategy for Boots. For someone who wants to have contact with all of the business and work on everything from finance to marketing this role is really for you.

What have been your highlights?

It’s really hard to narrow down, at L’Oreal interns are given so much to do and are really treated like full time employees. So to really answer your question, the internship itself was probably been my highlight! Being treated like a full-time employee for 10 weeks is challenging but in all so rewarding. A personal highlight was owning the building of sales trackers to see how well our products were selling around the country and asked to present this information to my team several times over the course of my time here. That’s really something that I would’ve thought someone much higher up than me would be doing as making sure that the information put across is correct is crucial to how the team will move forward.

What have been your challenges?

The responsibility. You learn so much on the job that of course you’ll make a few mistakes, but that is really what allows you to learn so fast. I would say that at the start you are given so much to do that it can feel a little overwhelming although with the hindsight I now have, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I realised very quickly that efficiency was probably the most important part of my job, effectively managing my time and the volume of work which I had been given was really challenging. As needing to get the work done quickly, whilst still completing it to a high standard was of paramount importance and something that definitely took me time to perfect.

What advice would you give to a student following in your footsteps?

Be enthusiastic, show that you want to work here and what you bring to the company as an intern. I was told at my Assessment Centre that working here isn’t just about you being the right fit for L’Oreal is just as important as L’Oreal being the right fit for you. You need to be comfortable and confident in your own skin whilst still being adaptable, having the ability to be constantly fluid in regards to your work style and structure of your day is what I would say is the most important skill to have. I’d also advise candidates at all stages of the process to learn about L’Oreal; the divisions, the brands, the functions and everything in between. By becoming more knowledgeable about the business you work for and what it stands for; you’ll be in such a better position to come forward with good ideas and really make an impact in your assessments and ultimately your job.