Intern, Consumer Market Insights Review

I really enjoyed my time at L'Oreal. Each intern gets a meaty project to independently take ownership of with the help and guidance of their line manager, which is a perfect way to develop skills and get involved in some interesting, engaging work which is often important for the business.

I didn't make the teas! My work was valued as being very useful and important for people all over the business in many different functions and I got on very well with my colleagues, who for the most part gave me a warm welcome throughout and I felt like part of the team. On the other hand, there were a few colleagues who took a while to warm to me or didn't bother as much, perhaps because I was just a summer intern and therefore only there temporarily. But this would happen within any organisation in any sector.

I learnt a ton from my manager, who was patient with me and was always ready to help. HR really gave us a crash course in what we needed to do to settle in at L'Oreal, make our mark and hopefully get a place on the graduate scheme. Ultimately, however, it is your responsibility to do so and nobody will hold your hand. You will be given a wealth of advice though, as long as you ask for it.

Very busy! My manager and I were the only ones who dealt with what we do (social monitoring in digital marketing) across the entire business so we often had demanding deadlines and tasks to complete. This can vary though, but generally everyone at L'Oreal is very busy. Not too busy to lend a hand or give some advice at a convenient time for them, however.

My independent project was entirely my responsibility. I organised and presented at training sessions for managers, contacted a tech startup to help with my work on London Fashion Week, and presented my research findings from my project to the CMO. I was given a whole load of responsibility and I think this is really important and hugely beneficial for interns. Not once was I micromanaged.

I learnt how to really listen, analyse problems from different angles, ask intelligent questions to get to the answers I need (which is more difficult than it sounds!), I learnt how to network, prioritise my time and meet deadlines, keep calm under pressure, and communicate articulately in a professional manner. My specific in-depth work in digital marketing will, I'm sure, be a very useful complement to the future marketing work I undertake. All these skills are essential to have and I'm very grateful for being given the opportunity to learn them.

My team was a lovely bunch and I don't think there was a day when I didn't laugh so hard it hurt! It was a market research role so some people were quiet, which was actually nice at times. There were waves of complete silence one minute and lots of noise the next! I could talk to anyone and everyone and we got on really well. I will miss them.

This is where L'Oreal falls down. The original email I was sent had two different managers cc'd, so I had to figure out via Google who my internship was going to be with but I didn't know exactly, and neither did the managers know whose intern it was! Only about a week before did my manager find out. Another thing is that at L'Oreal, things can be a little disorganised and chaotic; there is a lack of process. This can be good to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship, but at times this really showed.

Lunch and Learns were promised at the start of the placement, where we could chat on a weekly basis with a manager about their career, but I didn't have this. Nor was there as much continuous learning materials available that were promised. There was an online elearning platform, but many of the courses were not helpful. My manager, however, was really invested in developing my skills and gave me constant feedback and advice throughout.

Competition for the graduate scheme is intense and we were consistently reminded of this throughout. Fortunately, I got a place! The process for getting onto it is extensive and demanding, consisting of three recommendations by managers and HR, a presentation detailing your projects and achievements throughout, followed by a (particularly gruelling - like something out of The Apprentice) final interview with a very senior manager. It's really appealing to get a place on the scheme because you get a variety of placements (3 rotations over one year) designed to stretch you and teach you new skills. Marketing grads do two marketing placements and one commercial (sales) and vice versa for marketing graduates. From what I know, it's an intense scheme but people really get a lot out of it and most get onto an operational role thereafter.

We had our own intern committee who organised socials throughout the internship about every week. Most of these were in fairly bad (but cheap) bars but we also played rounders in Hyde Park and went to a trampolining centre. There's also Bar 255 which is a monthly bar night for everyone in the building. The end of internship social is not to be missed, either!

Central London. What more can I say?

To be honest I didn't go crazy with the nightlife as it didn't really appeal to me.

We had yoga and football clubs and a Citizen Day, where you could volunteer for a good cause, paid, for a day. There were many, many socials organised independently by interns.