Purchasing Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my work placement here at L'Oreal. Every day is different, which means every day will bring its own challenges and learning. However, L'Oreal is a very fast moving company, which means, you have to be open minded each day to what the day may hold and challenges.

I feel very valued by my colleagues. L'Oreal have a great culture and value their interns/ grads highly. Therefore, all my colleagues were very inviting when I joined the team, and encouraging to work on several projects alongside them to aid my progression throughout the year.

Unfortunately, my manger left the role throughout my internship meaning I was without a manager for a a number of weeks. However, I didn't feel at a massive dis advantage because of this. My team were very supportive through and approachable if I ever had any questions/ worries, as well as this, I felt I was trusted by my team to explore new ways of innovating my role throughout my time of not having a manager. I now have a manager who I receive lots of support from. I would defiantly recommend organising weekly/ bi-weekly catch ups with your manager.

Everyday at L'Oreal is a different day, however, you own the way your day is laid out. Although you may have daily responsibilities, you are given trust and freedom to develop your role to best suit you. Therefore, you have ownership over your role if you feel you are too bored or too busy.

When joining L'Oreal I was very surprised the level of responsibility you are given. The role intern often holds the connotation of very admin day-to-day jobs, however, this is not the case at L'Oreal. You are not treated any different being an intern and everyone is expected to deliver value to the team/ organisation.

We are very lucky at L'Oreal to have several internal training courses which are available for us to book. Through this I have attended training session to develop excel skills to soft skills such as 'impact and influence' training or 'how to manage your stakeholder' training. I would 100% recommend 'impact and influence' training, I took away skills for life.

The general atmosphere in the office is a very relaxed culture. Teams often organise work drinks/ lunches meaning there is always an opportunity to socialise with your team beyond your desk. We also have a hot desk policy, meaning you can meet/ network with stakeholders on other floors/ divisions.

The whole process of me joining the business was smooth from start to finish. I never faced any issues during my on boarding process and the HR team are available for any queries. I also got to meet my team and manager before joining which was a nice ice breaker and calmed my nerves before my first day.

As mentioned there is a variety of training courses both compulsory and optional for interns to attend. The courses range from developing both soft skills an hard skills.

I will be applying for the graduate scheme programme here at L'Oreal. We have a two stage interview process and will be informed of the outcome on our last day at the organisation.

There has been a few formal events organised across the year by our social committee but not many. However, a lot of interns socialise outside of work together and even live together.

Naturally, the cost of living and socialising in London will be higher than in most other areas of the UK. However, it is a city where you can spend as little or as much as you want.

Around the office there are a few bars, however, within a 10/15 minute walk or tube journey you have a variety of bars/ clubs and pubs to socialise in.

The intern community have organised many events, such as fitness events and a football and netball team.