Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year at L'Oreal. I have been well supported by a fantastic team who has helped me developed both personally and professionally. I have been given countless opportunities to up skill myself whether it be through formal training, observing my team or learning on the job. The interns at L'Oreal are treated as real employees with real responsibilities, having the autonomy to manage my own projects was extremely rewarding!

Yes I felt valued by my employees, my successes were recognised by my team and shared with the division where appropriate making sure I received credit for my hard work.

My mangers were fairly relaxed by style, and I would definitely use the word guidance rather than management when describing them. I did receive weekly/biweekly 1:1 with my line manager which were helpful, however a lot of the time I was left to manage my-self. However for me this was not an issue as I am self motivated and quite enjoyed the independence.

Due to the nature of my role no two days were the same however more often than not they were busy. This being said with good organisation and effective time management (and a few late nights/ early mornings) it was always manageable.

I was given lots of responsibility during my placement. During the beginning of the year I was given the opportunity to manage small projects, success in these meant that by second half of the year I was tasked with product launch. This level of autonomy made me feel extremely valued and the ownership of the product made me extremely motivated. It was fantastic to know that any idea I had and was passionate about pursing my team would provide me with the necessary resources and support.

My year has given me experience of working in a large co-operation and taught me office etiquette. Key skills such as organisation, time management and motivation will be extremely helpful in the future both completing my degree and in the world of work. I have adopted a growth mindset during my time at L'Oreal, where I used to be afraid of feedback I now welcome it, and I think this is the most useful skill I have developed.

The office as a whole is very friendly. The department that I work in is fairly small and has a real community atmosphere , we have activities such as ted talk Tuesday, where a member of the division will share a ted talk, the annual bake off in the run up to Christmas and Citizen day where we spend a day out of the office giving back to the community. There is always something going on and everyone in generally very positive, we celebrate a lot whether it's someone’s success or someone's birthday!

The emerging talent team have been fantastic and everything was very well organised. Instructions were clear, training was fantastic and support that was provided was great. If there was ever any queries the team were always on hand to advise.

The training at L'Oreal is exceptional and you are encouraged to attend as many courses and learning as you can. When you start you are bombarded with training; legal, brand and general, these are all very interesting and super informative. In addition to this you can attend optional training courses, which you can book easily on the online portal, there is a large number of courses available, they are all really useful and the trainers more often than not are amazing. I have learnt so much!

There are multiple options for future employment opportunities. There is a grad scheme across multiple functions, this is an amazing program that is highly recognised, however this is highly competitive with few places available.

There was an opportunity for a good social scene amongst other interns, with a committee nominated to arrange social events, however such events were not organised/badly organised, meaning that the social scene was very limited. The emerging talent team put on some good events at the beginning of the placement these were good in introducing all the interns. Saying this being in a smaller division, with less interns we all became quite close and often socialised together.

London prices - not extortionate but definitely more expensive than University.

Located in west London it is very well connected so endless opportunity to go out around London. More specifically in Hammersmith there are a few good bars and nice pubs which are great for after work drinks with colleagues.

At L'Oreal there are endless opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work, the company is well connected and plays an active role in many charities I enjoyed getting involved with these activities. In addition I was part of a L'Oreal Netball team, which was really fun!