Finance Intern Review

Within my role I am given high levels of responsibility to oversee tasks and lead meetings. My role is heavily focused around using the softwares: Compass, SAP and Magnitude. I use these to report at the end of every month. My job also requires extensive use of excel; understanding how to create difficult formulae, build pivot tables and create complicated spreadsheets. My daily tasks consist of using SAP to run reports to stay on top of late payments, checking the media spending within the brands, emailing other finance controllers, attending meetings and any other adhoc requests. My internship placement was in the Luxury division sitting within a corporate role. Due to this, I interact closely with all the finance controllers that work within the division, as well as the supply chain, commercial and media teams.

My excel skills have come very far. Before I embarked on my internship, I had no excel knowledge whatsoever! Now I feel very confident using the program and use it daily. This is definitely a skill I am glad I have developed extensively before trying to embark into a graduate position. My presentational skills have also improved significantly over the year. Confidence from leading meetings and through meeting and interacting with lots of different groups of people, I can present to more senior members of staff now with more ease than before my placement. I think I have developed a new skill of business acumen. After working for a year, I now understand how a business works in terms of structure, etiquette, general business knowledge and culture. Personally, I think this is an important skill to have developed as now I feel more confident in applying to graduate roles having secured this type of knowledge.

Personally, I was given a lot of responsibility. Although I was given some responsibilities from the beginning, as the year went on, I was handed over more and more tasks. I now lead on several duties that have become my main daily tasks. My manager no longer checks my work as she trusts I can undertake these tasks with care and accuracy, which makes me strive for more success. There is also lots of opportunity to get involved in other projects or improve certain tasks to make life easier for others.

L'Oreal has a very strong feedback culture. There are weekly and month 1 to 1s put in with your line manager to catch up on anything work related or non work related. As well as this, as an intern you receive 3,6 and 12 month reviews to allow feedback from your manager on what you are doing well and areas for improvement. This is also a time to give your manager feedback on how they can better guide and support you to get the best out of your internship. The culture is also very friendly and everyone is willing to help. When I have had a question or issue, either my manager or someone from the wider team has always been very positive and willing to put time in with me to talk me through it and provide guidance! There is a mentor scheme you can get involved in at L'Oreal where there is just that extra person there assigned to help.

The culture is the thing I have enjoyed the most at L'Oreal. Everyone is so inclusive and friendly. As an intern, I feel as much a valued member of the team as any other colleague. Unfortunately due to Covid, I haven't been able to attend the office as much as I would've liked over the course of my year. Also, that meant that all in person events were cancelled to which there are usually a lot. However, L'Oreal have hosted a significant number of virtual events to attend that allow for team building such as virtual finance days or diversity webinars. As a company, L'Oreal really care about the wellbeing of their staff. This year to boost morale from being in a Pandemic we benefitted from a longer lunch period as well as finishing at earlier on Fridays. They also host opportunities to get involved in any charity event you wish, and they provide help with your fundraising. As well as that, sustainability is such a key element of the culture at L'Oreal. Staff are encouraged to recycle, use reusable cups and go paperless.

Considering I completed my internship during the pandemic, I have had the most outstanding year at L'Oreal. I have met so many life long friends that I will definitely stay in touch with in the future. Coming from University, I surprisingly loved having the 9 to 5 work day structure in my life and feel challenged and valued through my work. My team have been incredible through their eagerness to help guide me, as well as making me feel welcome in all aspects. I didn't know what to expect when I began my internship at L'Oreal, but it has exceeded all my expectations. The culture is what makes it so unique and a pleasure to work there. I would definitely love to return as a graduate and would recommend the internship highly to anyone considering it!

Yes

I would say be really bubbly and friendly and you will fit in well! Prep for the interview in advance thinking about past experiences you can use to show you have learnt from them. It is really important to read up on L'Oreal before applying! This will give you more to talk about at interview and give you more insight into the company as a whole as we do sell more than just makeup! In the group activity at the assessment centre, it is so important to include others and ask them for their point of view, drawing them into the conversation if they are holding back. If you are successful, the handover week is pretty intense. Make sure to take lots of notes and ask as many questions as possible. Know that you won't be able to do everything straight away and that learning the skills and systems will take time, so do not stress!