Commercial Intern Review

I think L'Oréal is a great place to work for a number of reasons, but I think I would have enjoyed my time here more in another team.

I felt really valued during my time at L'Oréal. As L'Oréal employs a large amount of interns they are reliant on your work in order for the business to function efficiently. Due to this, I was entrusted with a lot of responsibility. When I delivered work my colleagues were always thankful and complimentary.

I have worked with a number of senior national account managers during my time at L'Oréal. The vast majority are very supportive and offer guidance wherever you need it. Unfortunately my direct line manager I felt could have offered a lot more support and guidance.

There are peaks and troughs in the workload throughout the year. Sometimes you are busy and the days fly by and other times you can be sat around not doing much. I would encourage you to ask for more work if you are bored, this is something I didn't feel comfortable asking for a number of months to begin with. If you ask your team members, they will do their best to find you something to do.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement from quite early on. I was responsible for the whole debt process (accruals to clearance) for the rest of my team.

In terms of for my studies I have definitely improved my organisational and time management skills. I also hope that I can take a 9 to 5 routine back to university in order to help me with studying. In terms of beyond studies, it was my first experience of an office environment which I feel has develop a number of soft skills (email etiquette etc.)

The atmosphere is generally a good and welcoming one. We often had "huddles" at around 4:30 where there would be free food and on some occasions alcohol (beer & prosecco). There is a lot of talks etc. to go to that are not necessarily business related. Many people work from home Friday's so if you are in on Friday it can be dull.

They employ over 100 interns every year so they are very well organised. You have a handover week with the previous intern in your first week as well as a number of essential trainings in the next 2/3 weeks.

To start with there was a lot of development opportunities (e.g. I presented at a customer trade day) but then my manager changed and these became less frequent. There was a number of training courses you can sign up to if you would like to.

The graduate scheme is only open to people who have undergone the placement year. This significantly slims the number of people you are competing against. If you are not interested in the grad scheme you can join the "Talent Track" programme where you are contacted about entry level roles in the area you have shown an interest in.

There are lots of interns and a number of events throughout the year. Intern social once a month, Intern ball at Christmas time, Intern Sports teams. The division I worked in also hold a Christmas Party, a Quarterly drinks which are subsidised etc.

It is in Hammersmith in West London so generally prices are high in the surrounding shops and pubs etc.

I never really went out clubbing etc. nearby as I had to commute into work.

Yes, there are many charity events you can get involved in. In my time there was a charity walk of the three peaks in Yorkshire which I took part in. There are also a number of sports teams, I was part of the intern football team.