2 In 1: Two Internships For One Passion… Meet Ghita at L’Oréal Research & Innovation
Why go for one internship when you can go for two! That’s what Ghita did to make her dream come true, not once but twice! After the first internship at L’Oréal in International Manager Assistant for Cosmetics Raw Material at Advanced Research team, Ghita comes back to intern for the function again, with a new scope in Product Performance Evaluation. Keen to hear all about it? Let her share what day-to-day life as in intern looks like, and what it’s really like to work for a beauty giant in Research & Innovation and Operations. And if product performance doesn’t quite ring a bell for you, hear her useful insights to understand it better!
Hi Ghita! Great to see you’re back! Were you made for L’Oréal or was L’Oréal made for you? Tell us your story!
I grew up in a town in the North of France, called Lille. I honestly always admired cosmetics and beauty products, fascinated by the power it can give to women and men alike. When I started studying here in Paris, L’Oréal kept on inspiring me as they have an absolutely unique way of conceiving research as a mix between science and marketing. I decided to go further with my studies and finish with an MBA in marketing and communications. It was an amazing challenge and opportunity to do two internships here at L’Oréal!
At my first internship at L’Oréal in International Manager Assistant for Cosmetics Raw Material, my mission was to optimize the referencing of cosmetics raw materials, by working on digital questionnaires dedicated to L’Oréal’s worldwide suppliers. This approach aims to strengthen the quality and the consistency of the raw material’s data collected such as the origin, the manufacturing process, the international regulations, the environmental footprint assessment, the performances according to the criteria set out in the Sustainability Assessment Framework, especially biodiversity, naturalness index.
I have also written guidelines designed to support suppliers in the reading, filling and understanding of L’Oréal’s standards in force. All in all, these digital questionnaires assist L’Oréal in ensuring that their raw materials meet the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy expected for cosmetic use worldwide.
Now, I am doing my second internship at L’Oréal in the department of product performance evaluation. I guess I am really into the beauty industry and understanding consumer habits! Every time I meet new people I ask them about their beauty rituals and about the products they use. I love to give advice, I’m thinking of having my own beauty blog!
Product performance… that sounds intriguing! What exactly does that mean?
My mission is to draw an overview of the consumer perceived performance of our products, by working on a specific strategic analysis to see how consumers assess products worldwide. The competitivity is a powerful strategic analysis that helps us to efficiently assess how consumers stack up L’Oréal’s overall worldwide performance. To summarize, the competitivity analysis is a new manner to position our offer in the competitive universe and to better valorize the efficiency of our formulas, thanks to a simpler, clearer and faster internal communication, highlighting goals to reach and supporting our strategic decisions with a visually appealing format designed to convey rich data in an easy-to-digest way. All in all, we help to identify the priorities for innovation/renovation products and improve our testing product strategies.
What’s your team like? Give 3 emojis to describe it…
As we are into competitive analysis, I would say that the winner’s cup reflects the team, as we are constantly striving to be the best and get our projects working successfully on the market.
Yes, we are competitive, but not in a negative way! We are always working together as a team, helping each other wherever we can and solve every little problem as a team. My team always listens to each other and give advice to everyone in need!
They are always joking… every day is so funny. Even in tough situations, we keep the fun touch at work, because we know how important it is to have a real pleasant workplace!
Why did you choose L’Oréal?
It was my dream to start working at L’Oréal and I have always been driven by L’Oréal’s vision of work — the simplicity, the innovation, the globalization of beauty and the sharing beauty with all. Beauty is a mix of different aspects and L’Oréal is a company that really understands, respects and adapts to the different needs all over the world!
So, you had quite high expectations… What surprised you the most before and after your first internship?
What I learned during my studies is that every company needs to adapt to their consumers. L’Oréal really surprised me by being a pioneer when it comes to sustainability and responsibility to look after the planet. It is really amazing to see that L’Oréal adopts their approach to greener consumers, fair trade and organic beauty. In my first internship, I was able to raise awareness for suppliers about green and organic raw materials and more importantly how to express the natural aspect of our materials used. It is a super innovative approach and I was really impressed by it.
The only thing that was quite new to me is the fascinating aspect of how people-centric and consumer-centric L’Oréal is. Here the consumer and the employee is in the heart of the company and both of them are super connected to the company, giving everyone a chance of communicating in a direct way. Consumers really have an impact here and can change products to better fit future needs.
Do you have any words of advice for aspiring other people applying to L’Oréal?
L’Oréal, especially my team is always looking for really ambitious minds to help build beauty into something better in the future. You should really know the products, the different brands, and the competitors to better understand the company. The careers website and the L’Oréal Talent social media is a good place to start the research ;)
On a personal level I would like to give you the advice of always striving to be the best version of yourself, always striving for more, create strong relationships across departments and countries and be always open to new ideas! Dare to meet as many people as you possibly can and communicate clearly where you want to go. Last but not least, L’Oréal has such an open culture, that you can get feedback everywhere really easily. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get all the advices you can get, as managers are there to accomodate your learning experience and bring our the best in you!
When you love your work and the people you work with, amazing things can happen. Inspired by Ghita’s story? Learn more about our Research & Innovation teams here
