Isabelle’s success story + her 5 Hot Tips to Ace your Internship at L’Oréal
Planning your internships can be a difficult step during the study period. Should you choose a big company or a start-up? In your field of study, or something to stretch your scope of knowledge?
One of our interns, Isabelle went through all these same questions, and made some of these exact decisions! Let her tell her experience, and maybe you’ll find some inspiration on what to do next, and maybe you’ll find yourself at L’Oréal just like her. 😉
First, tell us…What was your background before joining L’Oréal?
I did 2 years of preparatory class in major Economics and then, I entered Skema Business School. When you are in business school, you have the occasion to explore several professional fields because you are not immediately specialized.
I’ve always been a curious person who wanted to discover a lot of things and put myself outside of my comfort zone so I took part in the culinary association of my school — I love food — as a Community Manager for a year and at the end, I did my internship in an agency of social media & influence. Our role was to build all the digital, communication & influence strategy of our clients. It was my first real internship & I really liked it because as it was a start-up, I did all the posts & I had a 360 degree visibility on all the projects with our clients.
After these studies, what made you want to apply to L’Oréal?
I’ve also always wanted to work in a powerful company in the cosmetics industry. L’Oréal was the perfect opportunity for me to develop my expertise and contribute to my personal fulfilment at the same time. I also have a personal experience with L’Oréal products… When I was younger, the products were the first I borrowed from my mom and it was the first products that I could afford to buy. Growing up, I wanted to discover more L’Oréal as an innovative, powerful and leading company. Beyond that, I’ve always valued my personal development before choosing a company and I found out that L’Oréal had a strong corporate culture offering a multi-cultural environment, learning opportunities and ultimately matched with my personality and values.
After these studies, what made you want to apply to L’Oréal?
I’ve always wanted to work in a powerful company in the cosmetics industry. L’Oréal was the perfect opportunity for me to develop my expertise and contribute to my personal fulfilment at the same time. I also have a personal experience with L’Oréal products… When I was younger, the products were the first I borrowed from my mom and it was the first products that I could afford to buy. Growing up, I wanted to discover more L’Oréal as an innovative, powerful and leading company. Beyond that, I’ve always valued my personal development before choosing a company and I found out that L’Oréal had a strong corporate culture offering a multi-cultural environment, learning opportunities and ultimately matched with my personality and values.
Can you give us your five hot 🔥 tips to know when you start an internship at L’Oréal?
Absolutely, there are things that I think are super important when joining, here are my top:
- Don’t be afraid to dare, you really have the freedom to try new things!
- Be yourself
- Get familiar with L’Oréal culture
- Try to understand L’Oréal’s structure (you’ll see what I mean if you read on)
- Connect yourself with people and create your network (with other interns, managers…)
What does a typical day look like for you and what projects are you currently working on?
I’m part of the International Learning Team and I’m working on MyLearning — the internal L’Oréal eLearning platform. I’m in charge of the global communication and projects related to MyLearning (design newsletters, co-animate events, deep dive in datas). We are now analyzing how the Covid-19 crisis has shaped new habits & behaviors for learners to think about the future of learning!
What are the main challenges of your internship?
L’Oréal is a very big company and the structure is complex to understand (there are zones, countries, métiers…) so I think the biggest challenge is to understand how L’Oréal works as a huge company and who does what in order to identify all your stakeholders, but once you get that, everything falls more into place.
What is/are the big plus of your internship? What are the advantages of doing an internship at L’Oréal?
Entering a powerful company such as L’Oréal gives you the opportunity to work with leaders in the industry, you are constantly evolving in an innovative and multicultural environment. And even though it’s such a big company, you don’t necessarily feel it every day. You still have the impression that you are working in a small company at times, able to make decisions on your own and try new things in a completely entrepreneurial way.
How did you have an impact on the organisation during your internship?
I animated the L’Oréal collaborators by designing learning newsletters, designing and animating them during a digital treasure hunt event but I also participated in the #LearningNeverStops and #SafeTogether projects during the Covid-19 crisis in order to support our collaborators.
What is the thing you do at L’Oréal that makes you the proudest? A project that you have had a strong impact on?
I helped my team co-design and animate a big digital project. The goal was to increase the traffic to our platform and attract new people to. We then organized a digital treasure hunt for the 86K collaborators of L’Oréal & I suggested giving visibility to our event in the international headquarter (Clichy, France). Then, we worked with people in charge of internal events and we made some video teasers, posters, stickers and even pastries to promote our event.
What makes you get up in the morning?
Ambition and determination to build a strong and impressive career, being fulfilled. As a student and even more as a woman, I have to prove that I’m determined to succeed in life both personally and professionally. Evolving in an environment that fits with me, building my life, career, and working hard makes me feel alive.
If you had to choose a mentor at L’Oréal, anyone, who would that person be?
I don’t have a specific name in mind because every people I met contributed to my evolution during my internship. However, the people I have the most admiration for are my managers because they’ve always given me a boost to try new things, and be bold in my action. They excel in their jobs and are involved in each project they start doing, which allowed me to completely upskill myself. Also, they have always included me as a real project manager and not “just an intern”.
What advice would you give to the “next you”?
- Take actions, projects — Be proactive!
- Make your ideas heard — the teams at L’Oréal want to hear them!
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions — you are here to learn, and you’ll learn a lot with the right attitude!
