Category Management Intern Review

This placement was very enjoyable, I am so sad this year is coming to an end. I loved the people, especially those in my team. I received so much support this year as well as responsibility to drive my own projects. I loved being located in Hammersmith and being so close to central London.

I definitely felt very valued by my colleagues, this developed throughout the year. At the beginning it definitely took some time because I was primarily focused on learning about my surroundings and the market context, but after a few months I would often have people come up to me and really value my work which was one of the most incredible feelings.

I had several managers this year so keeping consistency in type of management was not really a thing, despite this though all my managers did support me in their own way. One thing i noticed is that it really depends on you as a person to drive this support as well as it is a two way relationship.

At the start i was quite busy learning how everything works and trying to truly understand my role in the team. As a few months passed I started having a lot more free time and often found myself asking people for extra tasks. I didn't mind this as it allowed me to be exposed to other sides of the business. Now, I had to take on another category within the team and this resulted in almost double the amount of work, so slightly longer days but i definitely preferred being busy rather than not having enough to do.

A lot! At L'Oreal you can really own anything major if you want to. If you put yourself out there and prove yourself, your manager can support you to do any project you want and truly own it. I think this was great. On the other hand, if you are a bit more shy you can ask for more guidance and can approach projects in a different manner. There is a good balance between the two.

Skills developed I would say are absolutely invaluable to my degree, studies and beyond. As far as the actual role is concerned it does not completely feed into my degree but I knew that when i started the role itself.

It was great! CPD generally has such a great atmosphere and especially in my smaller team area this was so great and one of the initial things I noticed in my first few days. There was the perfect balance of fun and laughs as well as quiet time to really crack on with your tasks. Everyone is always super approachable

The application process to get the placement was a little scattered and i could say this could have been improved upon (I know they have been working on improving this process), but once I got here everything pretty much ran smoothly.

I did not expect there to have been this many trainings and things for me to get involved in. My managers along the way have also been prioritising my development which was so vital to my actual development throughout the year (knowing people care about how you develop).

Currently in the middle of the process applying to the graduate scheme. I look forward to continuing this process and hopefully will be able to come back in the future!

Definitely! Interns had a social committee and organised many social events throughout the year, this was very well organised and it helped keep the work/life balance

I decided to live in Hammersmith to be close to work, the cost of living is quite high (quite typical for London), but I think it was worth it as I could walk to work.

Great pubs! For an actual night out most people wouldn't stay in Hammersmith but you can easily get to central london for a great night out!

If you know the right people there are definitely a lot of opportunities! I ended up joining a volleyball team with other people from L'Oreal and this helped me network as well as have fun.