By Tom Henau (BSc Economics with a Placement Year)
Why did you decide to do a placement?
When I started University, I was unsure what career path I wanted, and saw the placement year as an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of work in a new industry. I would know either “yes I like this job” or “no I never want to work here again”, which still would have been useful in finding what career I wanted. Not only this, but I wanted to gain some experience to stand out above other graduates. Once graduating the job market is incredibly competitive, so I knew I needed to gain work experience to help secure the level of job I wanted when leaving university!
Can you tell us a bit more about the organisation, your role, and the skills you learned?
My placement year was at the London Headquarters of L’Oréal, working as a Finance Intern for YSL Beauty and Giorgio Armani Cosmetics. L’Oréal recruit 100+ interns across many different roles every single year, so the environment is very young and social, making it very easy to network and make friends. In my role I had 3 managers above me who all helped teach and guide me through the year, keeping the role engaging and interesting with tasks getting more advanced as I progressed. In the role I worked with the Commercial teams on jobs such as internal audits and P&L balance sheet updates, and the Marketing teams leading commission payments to beauty assistants in stores across the UK and influencer payments for people such as Molly Mae. The main skills I learnt that are especially useful for university are my vastly increased capability with Excel, which is very important in both the job market and some final year modules such as “the Economics of Alternative Investments”, and my general confidence levels to speak and present. During my year at L’Oréal, I had the opportunity to work with some of the highest managers in the company, even presenting to the CEO in the final of a nationwide competition “Brandstorm”.
How did you find the transition back to UEA and your final year more generally?
To be truthful, initially I was not excited to be coming back to UEA as I had had such a great year at L’Oréal and loved living in London. Most of my friends had also already graduated and left Norwich. However, once returning I was very happy to be back, I remembered how lovely Norwich is, I lived with two of my best mates from UEA who also did placement years and met loads of great new people from the economics course who also did a placement that I did not know before. I would say university life after my placement was even better than it was before! In terms of work, my work ethic has greatly improved. Having worked a year of 9 to 5, it set me with the mindset when coming back to university to do more work more often, which improved my overall knowledge of the modules and reduced my workloads during assessment periods and summative submissions. I am on track to achieve a 1st class degree and I genuinely believe the placement year was a great factor in contributing to my success!
What are your plans after graduation?
Currently as I write this, I am living in my new flat in London, ready for when my grad role begins in July back in one of the Finance teams at L’Oréal. If you follow in my tracks and apply to L’Oréal, it is worth noting the grad role is not a given, it was highly competitive to get! Once the internship finished, they did interviews for the 8 Finance interns (and external applicants), including group assessments, a technical case study and a 1-1 interview to ultimately choose 2 Finance grads. The role is 1 year long and includes two 6-month rotations, so I get to experience different sides of the company. The plan is to work as hard as possible to hopefully be offered a full-time job once my grad year has finished and continue the beginning of my career at L’Oréal!
What advice would you offer to students for a placement?
Firstly, I would recommend (if you can) living close to where your placement year will be. I lived a 10-minute walk from the Hammersmith office in London, which made the commute so easy, meant I lived close to all the other interns in the area, and allowed me to attend any local work socials till late or work overtime in busy periods without having to worry about the commute home. Secondly, work hard and always ask questions. You want to impress your managers and colleagues in order to hopefully get a job at the company in the future, but you cannot get to that level without asking questions. All placement year managers will understand you have little experience and knowledge in the area you are working and expect you to ask questions, as this is how you learn. Then once you are more confident, always look for extra projects and tasks that go above and beyond and make your managers life easier! Finally, get involved in socials! This is almost as important as working hard, as there will most likely be hundreds of people that could do your job, it is your personality and charisma that will make you stand out, as then people will see you not just as a colleague but a friend. The best place to show your character and to network is at work socials, here you can talk about topics outside of work and get to know people on a personal level. If you get the perfect balance of working hard and social life in the workplace, you will do great during your placement year and will put you in good stead to get a job once you graduate! Good luck!