Self sourced marketing placement at Doddle

This is a guest post from Royal Holloway Business and Management student, Amy Davies, who is currently doing a marketing placement at Doddle. Amy encourages students to consider self sourcing their placement and talks about how this approach worked for her. 

The hours of scrolling through job sites becomes very tiresome and makes you feel like you need a change from the never-ending cycling of corporate applications. With the world opening back up and many smaller businesses looking for new opportunities, now is the perfect time to target them for your placement year. 

After several rejections from many different applications, I decided to turn my head and get creative with my applications. I knew marketing was the route that I wanted to go down, so I typed “marketing agencies near me” into google and I was off. I began emailing them all explaining my situation and that I was looking for a placement year. Many replied with the classic response, “Sorry but we don’t know what is going to happen with the pandemic and we can’t guarantee work come September” and others simply didn’t reply. This direction was a dead end for me at the time, but in hindsight I think if I had carried on, I would have succeeded.

Not wanting to dive back into the delights of Rate my Placement or LinkedIn Jobs I decided to use what I had learnt from the power of a good email and use my personal contacts. After networking with family and friends, I was given the email address of the CMO of Doddle a logistics and supply chain technology company, and it was my job to wow from there. Once again, I emailed enquiring into the possibility of a job and the response was positive. It turns out that the company had been thinking about introducing an internship program and I managed to confirm their idea was a good one. After sending through my CV and a cover letter, I was then introduced to the marketing team via Zoom and the rest is history.

After two months now with Doddle, I can officially say that sending that email was the best decision I have ever made. I had always thought I would end up as a small insignificant cog in a massive machine, such as Disney or L’Oréal, but as the only intern in a small technology company in an industry I knew nothing about my perspective on everything has changed. I am experiencing all different aspects of marketing as well as interacting with all the different teams within the business and am treated more like a colleague than an intern.

At the end of the day when it comes to gaining your placements, I cannot stress enough that your email is your best friend. An email is the easiest thing to send out compared to a lengthy application and can do a whole world of good. The worst outcome is they simply don’t reply, and that best outcome is making them realise that having interns is an option and give you a job. All I can say is you never know until you try.

If any Royal Holloway students are interested in finding out more about how to make speculative applications, they can find a useful Careers' video: https://rhul.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=04c5e5ac-052a-4593-92b6-abf000d5dd1e

A Year Not To Be Missed – Priyanka Subramaniam (L'Oreal marketing placement)

 This is a guest post from Priya, a Royal Holloway Year in Business student who is currently undertaking a Marketing placement with L'Oreal. This inspiring article is packed full of advice for students seeking placements.

A Year Not To Be Missed – Priyanka Subramaniam - My Year in Business (“YIB”) 

 

L’Oreal

§  the world’s largest cosmetics company

§  36 different brands covering skincare, makeup and haircare.

§  Represented in almost every household

 

 

The L’Oreal 2020/21 YIB Intern

Imagine being the Chosen One:

§  Shortlisted and selected to spend 12 months as an Intern;

§  Navigating the steep but exciting learning curve

§  Living and breathing marketing amongst L’Oreal and external stakeholders  

YES that’s ME.  For the past 9 months, an intern at SkinCeuticals, L’Oreal’s premium, cosmeceutical skincare brand which champions quality skincare backed by science and research. 

 

Marketing at SkinCeuticals

Marketing at L’Oreal is a cross-functional role: you get to do many things and meet diverse stakeholders.  Call me Jill of All Trades if you must but the breath of my exposure and scope of my responsibilities were phenomenal.  Having the right conversations where it matters; influencing at decision making level; collaborative networking:

§  Digital creators; Visual merchandisers; Designers; Supply chain; e-Retailers;

§  Product Launches at high end stores;

§  Photoshoots and merchandising of skincare kits;

§  Hosting of clinic account training;

§  Design and rolling out of over 30 email marketing campaigns

 

The latest skincare kits I produced and had photographed here: 

The  pre-seed box (complimentary gift sent to influencers and our accounts pre-launch) for our latest NPD which I designed here: 

Intern Culture at L’Oreal

It’s alive and kicking; many of the Brand and Division leaders were L’Oreal Intern Alumni. Interns are recognised for their value and fresh perspective. There’s nothing stereotypically ‘interny’ about my role (definitely not the filing or coffee assistant!)  Whilst the university course educates on the theory, the YIB shines a light on all things practical: you learn the soft skills to get things done; relationship building; how to balance priorities; when and how to say No; how to set boundaries; the stuff a year at university will not teach you. Fair to say that a graduate who has been through a YIB, is the better candidate – an ideal candidate even – perhaps the complete package for the discerning employer.

 L’Oreal Intern Recruitment Process

A super simple process: my CV and cover letter; 5 questions: 2 scenarios questions (STAR examples very handy), 2 generic questions: why marketing/what added value I bring and 1 scenario via video recording. 

A few weeks later, an email invitation to the Assessment Centre day at L’Oreal HO aka my future office! Instructions included what to expect during the day as well as a case study around which to build a presentation. Arrival at the Assessment Centre to discover competing candidates in suitable attire: Suited and booted Boys and Super Glam Girls.  Thank God I remembered my trusty black heels; off with the sneakers then to face a 9 to 5pm marathon: 

§  Presenting Case Study plans and ideas

§  Numerical Test (hardest one I’ve ever taken!)

§  Group work based on case study

§  Lunch (complimentary)

§  The Benchmark: Cruel and decisive shortlist - candidates sent home based on their earlier presentation or numerical test

§  I survived: to take an Attention to Detail Test - analysing data, purposely set at the end of the day to see if we still had our wits about us

§  Finally: a Competency Interview, 121 with full time L’Oreal staff to see if you’re the right fit for job role and company culture 

A very long 48 hours later (on 30^th October), I won the Intern prize - 4 weeks into year 2 at uni.

 

The Intern Experience: Verdict

No cliché intended but I really am not the same person I was 9 months ago: In terms of skills, knowledge, experience and self-awareness; I am ready to graduate and take on the (working) world.  I now know the answers to some of the previous unknowns:

§  What industry to favour post-grad

§  What job role to consider?

§  What is my motivation?

§  What leadership style is most effective?

§  Does work/life balance matter?

 

 Next steps

So, what does this mean for you?  Depends on where you are in the process:    

Student 1: Just decided I want to do the YIB programme; How do I start applying?

§     Below websites are a great place to search by job type, function, industry, location:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/

https://www.studentjob.co.uk/internship

Or the trusty Google search - that’s actually how I found mine!

 

§  Be smart and efficient with your time – Devise a strategy: use an hour in the week to scout out 3-5 possible job roles and save these into your email. Use another hour in the week to send out your applications. 

§  Approach a range of different sized companies, don’t be afraid of applying to the bigger names - I dared and look what happened!

§  Apply for a range of functions, roles and employers – it’s competitive; increase your chances.

§  Don’t despair (even if it gets to May/June; you can bag a last-minute placement)

 

Student 2: I’ve secured my placement; they’ve invited me for an interview and assessment centre; what do I do? 

Interview

§  Research the most FAQs; practise your responses

§  Memorise a few STAR examples of experience/scenario

§  Do your homework: be aware of current affairs, industry competitors, brand history and aims

§  Present well:  as someone they’d like to work with/a good fit to company culture

§  Don’t feel pressured to say the first thing that pops into your mind, it’s okay to take time to craft your answer

§  You can’t prep for every possible question; go in with a well-rested mind

 

Assessment Centre

§  Speak up; share your ideas

§  Avoid interrupting or speaking over others

§  Listen to what others have to say

§  Commend others for good ideas

§  Learn people’s names and use them!

§  Encourage everyone to be involved and have their say

§  Participate but if you feel nervous, volunteer to be the notetaker or timekeeper

 

Final thoughts

Please don’t be shy to reach out to have a chat about YIB, MY placement, L’Oreal or applying in general – happy to help and support! 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyanka-subramaniam-23b07a155/ 

 

Thanks for hanging in there; hope this was helpful. Wishing you only the best – happy applying!

Kevin John's Marketing placement at Jaguar Land Rover

This is a guest post from Royal Holloway Year in Business and Management student, Kevin John, who is currently undertaking a Marketing placement with Jaguar Landrover in Warwick

My role at JLR consists of working with the marketing manager : I help to produce & manage marketing assets as well as communicate essential information to markets from a global perspective. This has allowed me to manage projects, such as having ownership of producing the Christmas campaign, from beginning to end. My overall experience so far has helped me understand, from a company point of view, how to adapt to situations and solve problems as they come. 

 I strongly recommend placement to anyone considering it as it really helps build key relationships and emerge yourself in a variety of experiences. I truly believe, my placement so far has amplified all my skills and has given me a strong edge to compete for future jobs.
 

Management YIB - Kevin John

Jaguar Landrover are currently advertising a range of business placements here with a deadline of 14 th December based in Warwick.  https://targetjobs.co.uk/employer-hubs/jaguar-land-rover/751808-commercial-undergraduate

Kevin John recently attended our Year in Business Call back afternoon and talked informally to younger year YIBs at the Employer Placement event on October 1st. He is part of the buddy programme available to 2nd year YIBs who are seeking placements in 2019/20 and is happy to chat to any Royal Holloway YIBs interested in a placement at Jaguar Landrover. Do connect via Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-john-5aa696150/?originalSubdomain=uk

Watch Kevin's video of his placement here:  http://yibprofile.blogspot.com/2019/03/kevin-jaguar-landrover-marketing.html

Joy Timmer's Sales and Marketing placement at Bentley

This is a guest post from Joy Timmer who is studying BSc Management with Marketing (Year in Business) at Royal Holloway and is currently undertaking a Sales and Marketing placement with Bentley Motors in Crewe.

I joined Bentley Motors in September and can honestly say that each day at work is varied and different. I am a part of the Bentley Pre-Owned team, which means I am part of a team of 6 people and we operate the global Bentley Pre-Owned programme. I see myself as fortunate for being placed in this team, because although there are 4,000 employees at Bentley and 400 in Sales & Marketing alone, I get access to all functions due to being in such a small team. Essentially we operate as a mini version of Bentley, doing everything that the main company does but on a smaller scale. This means I undertake a great variety of roles, something that wouldn’t be possible if I was a placement student in a particular function. As I study marketing at Royal Holloway, it means that I have been given responsibility for a number of marketing projects for the team, from social media to much wider research for the Pre-Owned programme. I work on projects in house, as well as with our marketing agencies. Opportunities to further my learning are always presented, and I’ve had the opportunity to undertake an Excel course, as well as spending time at Google Garage to further my digital marketing skills.

As well as marketing, I have learned other key skills such as processing purchase orders, planning events, managing a budget and managing suppliers. Being a part of a global network has given me an insight into how a company operates across different time zones and as a result, how vitally important communication and fore planning is.

The best part about my placement has been the opportunity to work for such a luxury and iconic brand. In the first month of starting at Bentley I was exposed to the brand in all way’s possible, from visiting the showroom and playing round in the cars, to going on a factory tour. Seeing Bentley’s every day soon becomes the normality, from seeing them being test driven on my way to work, to photographing them for a recent project I was working on. Even so, the novelty is yet to wear off. Witnessing the cars being made, and the detail and time that goes into each one, makes you appreciate the product you are working around. No other car manufacturer hand builds cars in this way and this is why, despite the cost, customers return time and time again to purchase a car from us. From New to Pre-Owned personalisation is available to the customer through our Mulliner customisation, and is what sets us apart from competitors. Whether a customer wants a golf fit, or falconry the Bentley can be personalised to their hobbies and exacting standards.

Luxury is at the heart of everything we do and the customers we reach out to expect everything to be of the highest quality. It can sometimes be frustrating, as sign off processes are long and every detail has to be perfect. However I see this to ultimately be a benefit, as working at this level to start with, has given me a great platform to progress from as I am now used to producing work that meets the high standards that Bentley requires.

With Bentley Motors turning 100 later this year, there is not a greater time to work here, with marketing materials and campaigns being worked on all over the business to celebrate the achievement. As well as this, customer delivery of the first New Continental GT will take place in just a couple of months’ time, marking a new and exciting chapter for Bentley.  If you are looking for a placement in a company that pushes you and where you will learn from the highest standards, I would urge you to apply. Don’t be put off by the location. For me it has been a great experience living and working somewhere completely new. If you have any questions about my placement, feel free to drop me a message!