Supply Chain Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year at L'Oreal. The company is obviously very large which makes the work you get involved with really interesting and exciting, and also allows you to get involved with a large range of tasks too. I absolutely do not regret my decision to apply to L'Oreal for my placement.

If you work hard and show an interest in what you've been given then people are really supportive of you. Any questions you may have are answered by the majority of colleagues in a helpful way.

My management were faultless in this aspect. They always helped me with day-to-day questions about work willingly as well as longer-term career advice/sharing of their own experiences within L'Oreal. The main thing that surprised me was that they had the mentality of "How can L'Oreal help to develop me?" rather than "What can I do for L'Oreal during my year?" which was great for me.

The amount of work you have varies on the time of year. During peak trading months there is always something to do somewhere. When the company goes into project mode there can be more lulls in your workload. This year I believe on more than 95% of days my workload would've allowed me to arrive at 9am and leave at 5pm if I chose to do so.

You are given as much responsibility as you deserve. This is good from the perspective that you are never asked to do something you are not capable of (this is not the same as never having to ask for help). If they believe you are capable management don't hesitate to offer you the chance to be a part of big and exciting projects.

The skills I feel I have improved are very transferrable. I came with a limited knowledge of Microsoft excel and have left with a more than competent level of knowledge. You also use SAP which is used by many companies. Away from software's the role develops good process awareness as well as an appreciation of the steps that cause change in large companies.

The atmosphere in the office was good on the whole. There are a few people who aren't pleasant frankly, they have the ability to bring down the whole office if they choose with whining which is really unfortunate as the vast majority of people are hard-working and invested in what they do, as well as being prepared to break away from work for a laugh or a chat.

The Human Resources team that organise my placement were exceptional in my eyes. The only negative aspect I would say is that you only find out which site you are based in quite late which is not ideal for finding somewhere to live, in every other aspect their organisation and communication was effectively done and really prompt; for example I found out very very soon after my assessment day that I'd been successful, rather than waiting for weeks, which was really nice.

L'Oreal are superb in this aspect. As I mentioned already my management were really keen in helping me develop, without being over-bearing with it. In addition to this there is a really vast online learning service which covers a wide range of topics that you can improve on if you desire, anything from excel to how to communicate effectively to some aspects of specific roles.

The natural path of the internship is progress into the L'Oreal graduate scheme. Obviously this is in place because they don't want to let go of their top talent. The scheme is competitive to get onto as there are a lot of interns and not many graduate positions available. It is possible to get another job outside of the graduate scheme of course, having a knowledge of the company already helps with this but just because you were an intern doesn't give you preferential treatment.

I was one of the few interns based outside of London. In the distribution centres you find (in general) a slightly older demographic and as such more people with families to consider which just makes socials a bit more difficult to organise if you want to do a mass-event but not impossible. However there are other interns are people my age who I socialise with more regularly.

Average cost of living for a city that isn't London.

Good range of bars and places to eat, as well as a few decent clubs.

Living in and around a large city you have the chance to do whatever you want to be involved with.