What's your job about?
I am currently in the graduate program at L’Oréal, however I am one of 2 finance graduates. Our newly updated graduate program consists of 2 x 6 month rotations around the business. As I am a Finance grad, both of my rotations are within the area of finance. In my first rotation I worked in Internal Control within our corporate division, so I was looking after Compliance, risk management and audit for all of our four divisions in the organisation. In this role, I completed some major Internal Audits of our business processes, which I had the opportunity to present some of these findings to our Management Committee!
Recently, I have just started my second rotation, working under the commercial financial controller, in our Consumer Products Division, which includes some of our biggest brands (Garnier, Maybelline, and L’Oréal Paris). Here I will be mainly working on the incredible amount of promotions that go through this division to our suppliers and customers.
What's your background?
I was born in Melbourne and have always lived here, I attended Genazzano FCJ College and then completed my Bachelor of Commerce (Finance/Marketing) at the University of Melbourne. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be offered a position at L’Oréal in the Grad program just as i was finishing up my studies last year.
I have still had an opportunity to travel around many parts of the world several times, in particular throughout my University degree.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes I believe so! I think someone with a different background could do my job because the amount of learning opportunities and support i have received starting off, and during my time at L’Oréal has been extraordinary. People in any area of this organization are extremely willing to help out, take time out of their day and offer any support needed - in particular for the graduates! L’Oréal has so many areas, divisions and functions and nobody expects anyone to know everything - learning is a part of everyone's job every day!
In addition, L’Oréal provides so many extra opportunities for you to expand your knowledge, within your job function or not.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
There are so many cool things about my job! Starting off in Internal Control I worked with all areas of the business (Media /Digital Media teams, controllers, marketing managers), as I conducted Audits in all parts of the business. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know a lot of the workplace.
In addition to your everyday work - there’s always something big happening. This year was the first Graduate only learning week. During this week we were given projects which we presented to all of the Management Committee. Moving forward we are continuing to work with senior management on these projects to perhaps implement better processes in the workplace!
What are the limitations of your job?
With advantages always comes a few limitations, i would say a limitation of working at such a large and multi-functional organisation is that communication cross functionally is sometimes hard, and this can often lead to different functions not being aligned with dates, processes or rules and responsibilities. As with every job, this is why it is important to coordinate and communicate properly!
In terms of responsibility, L’Oréal has a very flat management structure - so yes, from day one, even as a graduate you will bear responsibility, you will be trusted and nobody is treated differently no matter what your role is!
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...