By Sophie Ruston, BA Business Management
My journey started in my second year when I attended an ‘Assertiveness & Self Confidence Skills Session’ on the 14th November ran by L’Oreal at the Student’s Union. It was advertised as an on-campus evening where I was able to get hints and tips on how
to tackle their applications. It wasn’t until I turned up that they told us they would be running a mock assessment centre with the chance to be ‘talent spotted’ and fast-tracked to the final stage of their application!
Around a week later I received an email invitation to their final stage assessment centre in London, exactly a month on from the initial event (14th December). I straight away began researching the company, the brands and preparing for the day. 48 hours before, we received an information deck through with lots of information on potential new Kiehl’s skincare products, our job was to prepare a 20 minute presentation on which product to launch, why, and our omni-channel launch plan.
Fast-forward through 2 days of intense planning and presentation preparing which included analysing data from a survey of my Facebook friends, I was at the assessment centre and presenting to the Head of Digital 
for L’Oréal’s skincare division. Following the presentation, we were split into groups to take part in a group task which built on the Kiehl’s project, and then completed a numerical and literacy test. Next was lunch and a chance to chat to the current interns and ask questions about their experience and what a placement at L’Oreal was like first hand. After lunch, there was a daunting ‘cut’ where they sent home applicants who hadn’t progressed to the afternoon which then consisted of an attention to detail test, a virtual reality meeting scenario and an individual interview with a senior member of staff.
After successfully gaining a place on the placement scheme, I started on the 25th June 2018 as an ‘E-Retail Intern’ in the Active Cosmetics Division. My role consisted of:
- Communicating with online retailers to assist with account management and relationship building.
- Collating, reporting and analysing sales results, tracking market trends and promotion results
- Ensuring all product launches were planned and executed across e-retailers accurately from start to finish
- Creating campaign focused assets for website banners, brand pages and social media posts to encourage uplifts in sales, ‘win on the web’ and increase brand awareness.
As much as I got stuck into my day-to-day role, and after an adjustment period, really enjoyed what the job entailed, it was all the other activities I got involved with whilst on placement which made the year so special! I was part of the intern netball team which played weekly matches against other teams around Hammersmith e.g. against the Disney interns. This was a really great chance to meet up with some of the other interns which I didn’t work with, and find out more about their roles in other parts of the business. With over 100 interns across Marketing, Commercial, Finance, Supply and more from 36 brands and 4 divisions, every intern has a totally different role and experience.
Being part of such a large, international company also meant there were 
occasions where I was able to get involved with corporate events, such as an event at the house of commons, “for Women in Science”, attended by MP’s, Lords and successful business people. This opportunity to represent L’Oréal at such a significant annual event filled me with pride, and also gave me experience networking with individuals outside of the business. I was also involved with charity and corporate social responsibility initiatives within the Head Office, such as selling raffle tickets, working at product sales and volunteering with disadvantaged children in the community.
All in all, my placement year provided me with such a vast array of experiences, I learnt A LOT, developed massively as an individual, but more than anything had such a fantastic time. I enjoyed it so much, that I even stayed at L’Oréal over the summer and completed another internship in a totally separate role, just so I could gain further insight into the business! I have met friends for life, and am back in London at least once a month, I just can’t wait to be back there full time in January 2021 on their Commercial Management Trainee graduate scheme.
