Customer care and credit control intern Review

I enjoyed it very much. I was exposed to a number of departments and was given a variety of responsibilities including consumer relations, E-Commerce, Inter-company orders, and out of stock reports for customers such as Debenhams and Selfridges. I was trained to use SAP on a daily basis to extract data and manipulate the data into an excel spreadsheet.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and regularly had meetings with my manager to discuss my progress, improvements and projects.

I was assigned to a SAP key user who dealt with any queries I had with regards to using SAP and I had continuous support from colleagues who sat nearby. Also I was given training notes to refer to if I was finding my tasks difficult to complete.

Near to the end of the placement I was extremely busy and always had something to do. The beginning of the placement involved a lot of shadowing and training therefore I was not thrown in the deep end which suited me.

I was given a lot of responsibility and was exposed to the E-commerce department due to an employee leaving therefore I was able to experience something new that was not stated on my job description.

It was my first experience in an office environment which was beneficial as that was the environment I wanted to work in. The experience in using SAP helped me a lot as most big companies use ERP systems therefore having prior experience meant that I could show I have the capability to pick up new things relatively quickly. Finally, my degree of International Business reflected my placement was L'Oreal is a globally recognised company therefore I was able to experience business on a day to day basis.

Everyone was really friendly and welcoming on my first day. The people in the office were laid back and happy to help when I was finding difficulty.

The work placement was organised in the sense that there was training notes on hand for using SAP and how to place a consumer relations order, inter-company order etc. I was given clear instructions as to when and how reports were needed to be completed by and who to send to on a weekly basis. Overall everything was very organised and I knew what was expected of me.

The company took the time to provide some training sessions so that I could learn broader aspects of using SAP. Also, my manager offered me the opportunity to go and visit the other distribution sites to expand my knowledge of supply chain in the different divisions. Finally I was sent to London head office for three days to take part in presentations with other placement students about the different brands L'Oreal owns.

Future employment prospects were appealing at the beginning but then I found out that there was a waiting list for 2014 positions. Also the company favours placement students who were based in head office which seemed unfair to me.

A social scene amongst placement students was non existent however the department I was in, organised social events now and then during the year.

The cost of living was not too bad as it was in the same city as my uni therefore I was familiar with the area and was able to share a flat with uni friends.

The nightlife is really good in Nottingham however it being the same city as my uni, I was unable to experience a different surrounding.

Fundraising events were carried out outside of work to raise money for various charities but very limited due to uninterested employees