Visual Merchandising Intern Review

The VM role mainly revolves around launches, the team designs in store POS units to promote new products/live animations. Day to day you support the management of suppliers and designing the promotional units. Working with the marketing team you maintain the brand's in-store representation by maintaining guidelines, visual databases and other adhoc requests. As an intern you are responsible for small POS projects and supporting the wider VM team.

The VM internship has exposed me to a variety of role specific softwares that are used across the company - for example Displayer for creating guidelines. The role has also allowed me to utilise my Adobe software skills that I learnt at uni. I have been able to adapt these to the position and learn new design styles whilst supporting with visual requests and a variety of small design projects.

As an intern I was positively surprised by the amount of responsibility you are offered. Due to the nature of L’Oréal being so fast paced, you are thrown right in and have to pick up projects immediately. This accelerates your confidence in the position, therefore allowing you to feel comfortable picking up larger jobs. In the second half of the internship I was leading the same design tasks as senior managers.

I felt extremely supported by not only my line manager but the wider activation and marketing team. I never felt like any question was discarded and my professional progression was endorsed. My managers and I worked together to action any queries or problems I brought to them, coincidently supporting my exploration of the wider company through shadowing other divisions.

L’Oréal is an extremely fast paced and competitive company, this means you are thrown in the deep end. Due to this, the work is quite independent but all achievements are celebrated and the relevant people given recognition for the time they have committed to the project. This style of working and adaptation to the ways of work takes adjustment but is alleviated by the team spirit.

My time at L’Oréal exceeded my expectations. I had a huge variety of exposure to a range of brands and projects that I couldn’t have predicted. My team trusted and supported me with the management of extremely visible projects that have allowed for personal and professional growth. Whilst the placement didn’t specifically relate to my degree I was able to advocate for myself and adapt the position to meet my skills.

Yes

Your internship at L’Oréal is a chance to learn and grow, you are not expected to be a professional so take the year to soak up all you can. Make the most of all opportunities, advocate for the projects you want to participate on whilst setting clear working boundaries.