Landing an internship at L'Oreal
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Interning this summer at L'Oreal in New York, MBA student Abby Schneider used some of her free time to answer a few of our questions about Krannert, her internship and what the experience has been like so far.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I was born and raised in St. Louis MO. After I graduated undergrad from Purdue, I moved to Chicago and then was transferred to Amsterdam. Now I am back at Purdue again!
Q: What is your undergrad degree and where did you earn it?
Purdue, Business Management with Finance and HR concentrations.
Q: Why did you decide to come to Purdue for your MBA?
I was doing very well in the Amsterdam office working in Treasury Operations and Cash Management, and knew that if I ever wanted to transition from Treasury to Finance, this was the time. Treasury is very technical, and very detailed. Finance is more "big picture" and an MBA would allow me to make that switch.
Q: How did you find your internship?
I utilized every resource - Purdue's MBA fair, National Black MBA fair, LinkedIn, etc. I started early and agressively pursued the National Black MBA fair. My efforts paid off and I was offered four internships. I chose L'Oreal in New York City where I am a corporate finance intern for the Luxury Products Headquarters.
Q: Tell me about your current role and what you’re doing this summer.
I am working on a profitability analysis by customer for our various brands. I am diving deep into where we should best allocate funds and resources, and where we should be slightly more conservative. This is an interesting project because it involves all luxury brands at L'Oreal at multiple stores and I really get a feel for what drives and impacts our bottom line.
Q: How did Krannert prepare you for this opportunity?
The Krannert Professional Development Center is a resource I will forever be thankful for. Between tweaking my resume and going through countless mock interviews, I felt bulletproof when I talked to recruiters at the big career fairs. The KPDC definitely sets students up for success, it's just up to the students to make the most out of it and use that resource.
Q: Tell me about any other internships, extracurricular activities or study abroad experiences you’ve had at Krannert.
I am an alumni of my sorority from undergrad, and currently serving as president of their House Corporation Board, where I oversee summer improvement budgets and projects, and manage all business-oriented aspects of the sorority on Purdue's campus.
My favorite extra curricular is definitely case competitions. I did not even know what these were before I came to Krannert! They give you a chance to be "put on the spot" and step outside your comfort zone. You are working under pressure and the experience is thrilling to say the least. Krannert makes a great effort in sponsoring students to attend case comps all over the united states, and I am proud to say that I have been to three cities to visit other schools in my first year of my MBA. I particularly like case competitions because it gives me a chance to work with students who are not in Finance like myself, but in other fields such as HR, Marketing, Operations, etc.
Q: What are some of your fondest memories of your time at Krannert?
I remember during the career fair week at Krannert it was very stressful for everyone, and even though students were technically "competing" against each other to get interviews with recruiters, everyone was helping each other and saying, "Good Luck, you got this!" That was really cool for me to see, because I don't think you can get that elsewhere- but you do at Krannert.
I also remember when the team I was on for a case competition made it to the semifinals and Krannert made every effort to sponsor us to let us attend the event. Purdue had never been invited to the semifinals before, and this was a big deal for not only our team, but Krannert. We had the President of the University, Mitch Daniels, do a cameo in our application video. Our team had such a great time at that competition. We competed against top 10 schools and presented to executives at Fortune 500 companies.
Q: Do you have a favorite class, teacher or staff member?
Andrae Sailes in the Admissions Office has been a great mentor to me. He really helped in my transition from working to going back to school. It was a scary thing for me, having been out of undergrad for 5 years to come back to Purdue. It is nice to know the staff here is always lending a helping hand or a listening ear.
My favorite class is Prof. McConnell's Finance class. (It is notoriously a very tough class for all first year students, and rightfully so). He really forces people outside of their comfort zone and the class is heavily geared on student participation, which is rare for a finance class. He put formulas and equations to use in real-life cases of businesses. Actually, that is how I landed my internship offer. My interview was literally straight out of a concept we did in that class, an NPV analysis. I had to give a 30 minute presentation at L'Oreal deciding whether we should launch a product which I based on NPV analysis. I thanked him after the interview!
Q: What would you tell prospective students about Krannert?
Do not be nervous. Everyone is in the same boat. Have fun, and do not forget why you came here - to get a great job and have an excellent experience along the way. Make time for yourself. There are always going to be a million things happening, but you need to remember to enjoy it too. And lastly, use your resources. You would be shocked to know how helpful the staff and faculty actually wants to be, they will set you up for success but you need to reach out to them! Get to know everyone here at Krannert. It is a great journey!