Digital Intern Review

I found that my team at L'Oréal really valued my contribution to my team. I was recognised for all the projects I contributed to and had excellent exposure to wider business stakeholders like GMs and MDs. However, from conversations with other placement students I don't think this is consistent across all brand teams.

L'Oréal give their interns a lot of autonomy in their roles which does sometimes mean you receive less direction. L'Oréal values entrepreneurship and being a self starter so if you feel like you need to be given exact instruction throughout a project it might not be the company for you.

I had a pretty heavy workload but it was manageable. I thought it was useful that my workload slowly grew overtime throughout my 12 months internship as this made it feel a bit more manageable. L'Oréal encourages working smart so you're given a lot of flexibility with your daily workload.

I was given projects that affected the whole business. At first this felt a bit overwhelming but looking back I'm really glad i had that opportunity. It takes a bit of getting used to being an adviser to stakeholders who are much higher than you in hierarchy but it gave me great exposure to network with people at all levels of the business.

I learnt a lot more in my one year at L'Oréal than I did in my marketing degree. Not only the strategic knowledge that links to the theory I learnt at university, but also soft skills that will benefit me in a future workplace.I feel like I am in a great position to start a new role in any company after I graduate and I will feel much more confident in my ability thanks to the skills I've learnt at L'Oréal.

The office atmosphere really depended on the brand. Some brands have a much more relaxed atmosphere than others. I was lucky that my team had a really relaxed bantery atmosphere. I was really scared that L'Oréal would be a catty, bitchy environment but it really was the opposite. I felt appreciated, welcome and a true part of the team!

L'Oréal in general is not the best organised company so if you're a lover of process it might not be the company for you. The internship set up was fairly well organised and there is a huge intern community in the office with over 100 interns. There are people to talk to if you feel your line manager is overworking you etc. You are allocated to a brand based on your CV and if you dont like it there isnt any flexibility to move teams

L'Oréal encourages you to learn on the job through learning from the team around you and potentially doing shadow shifts. I felt supported with key tools but I felt like when I wanted to learn how to use a more obscure tool there wasnt any funding or process in place to organise this.

It is very competitive to get on the grad scheme at L'Oréal and although you have a pretty much guaranteed entry level job after this, a lot of grads I know have struggled to be placed in a job that they're happy with after the grad scheme and are currently doing project work and are waiting for a full time, permanent position.

At the beginning of the year there was a great intern social scene where the majority of us went out on nights out together. This has naturally dwindled somewhat over the year but there is still a great community of interns to hang out with at lunchtime etc. I would really recommend working in a company like L'Oreal where there are lots of interns to socialise with, it makes it a lot easier it make friends.

London is so so expensive but the office is situated in Hammersmith which is just outside central London so it's not as expensive as central companies. There are lots of restaurants like wagamamas, Wasabi etc just outside hte office if you want food from outside or you can eat in the office canteen where the food is fairly reasonably priced (around £3-£5 a meal). I live in Hammersmith and am walking distance to the office and pay £675 a month in rent which is quite low for London rent.

In Hammersmith the nightlife if fairly non-existent but you're only 30 mins on the tube away from central London where there are lots of clubs and bars.

My team were active in organising socials so I have been out to the pub, to BBQs, team meals and concerts. L'Oréal also has lots of cool launch events which interns are usually invited to. This gives you opportunities to meet beauty influences or even high profile celebrities e.g. Gigi Hadid, David Beckham