Over Coffee Episode 2 | 'I almost did not apply': I'm an engineer at L’Oréal Groupe

In this second episode of the Over Coffee video series, SeedZ Management Trainees Emilie and Elio sit down for an informal coffee chat with Vincent, an engineer working in operations at L'Oréal's high-speed manufacturing plant in Rambouillet. Set in the modern cafeteria of L'Oréal's headquarters, Vincent breaks down his initial preconceptions about the cosmetics industry and describes his day-to-day role balancing technical problem-solving on the shop floor with strategic planning. Using a Newton’s cradle as a tangible metaphor, the discussion highlights how curiosity, cross-functional collaboration, and agility drive operations and career progression at L'Oréal.

EMILIE: Apparently, Vincent, you didn't plan at first on applying to L'Oréal. Is it because it's cosmetics?

OFF-CAMERA: The camera's rolling!

ELIO: Hi and welcome to Over Coffee.

EMILIE: I'm Emilie.

ELIO: And I'm Elio. And we're both doing the L'Oréal SeedZ Graduate Program.

EMILIE: Today, we are grabbing coffee with Vincent in the coolest cafeteria.

ELIO: That's right, and not any cafeteria.

EMILIE: No, you're right, Elio. We are inside L'Oréal's most high-tech headquarters. Today, the idea is to talk about what Vincent's job really, really looks like.

ELIO: There will be no corporate scripts, no suits and ties, just real conversation. And we all know that real talk does not happen over a meeting.

EMILIE: They happen over...

EMILIE & ELIO: Over a good coffee.

EMILIE: Hi, Vincent!

ELIO: Hi, Vincent!

VINCENT: Hi, Emilie. Hi, Elio. How are you doing?

EMILIE: How are you doing?

VINCENT: I'm good. Good, good. What about you?

ELIO: Amazing!

EMILIE: Honestly, amazing. We're very happy to have you here with us. Make yourself comfortable. If you want, we have some snacks here. Grab yourself a little coffee.

EMILIE: Apparently, Vincent, you didn't plan at first on applying to L'Oréal. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

VINCENT: It's a good question. After the engineering study, I was not thinking about L'Oréal at all. I was not imagining that L'Oréal has so much to offer in terms of logistic challenges or puzzles, or even managing preventive maintenance on a high-speed factory floor.

EMILIE: Is it because it's cosmetics?

VINCENT: Yeah, you know, you have always the lipstick stuff in mind and not the engineering, the operations behind the scenes.

ELIO: You limit yourself. Maybe you think it's only lipstick, and that's it.

VINCENT: Yeah, completely. But I did an internship outside the group, and one friend of me (mine) told me multiple things that made me reflect about this type of job that L'Oréal can offer. And at the end, when you look at the group, there is a multiple range of positions that can be offered. Regardless of the jobs, you can work in a country, in a headquarters or as well in a factory. So that's quite rich. You will meet a lot of international and diverse teams that help you to learn a lot and to develop a bit of adaptability. And the last one is the choice you will have to grow. There is (are) a lot of learning opportunities in the group. I'm working in operations, but you will have - and we have - access to AI programs and finance programs that are not really linked to the core of our jobs. But L'Oréal offers you the opportunity to grow on diverse platforms, and this is super rich.

ELIO: Amazing. So with all of that being said, you might say that joining L'Oréal is the best decision you've made for your career.

VINCENT: Yeah, so far, it's been eight years I joined the group. Four different positions. And I still have a lot to learn, so not ready to leave yet.

ELIO: If you had to explain your job to a five-year-old, what would you say? How would you explain it? Tell us everything.

VINCENT: Yeah, so I'm working in a factory close to Paris, in Rambouillet, where we are making shampoo on multiple production lines. The job is to really make sure we have, on time, all the Elvive products in the European bathroom. And more concretely, the idea is to make sure we develop and sustain the performance of the line in terms of quality and safety as well.

EMILIE: So you mentioned L'Oréal gives you many tools to grow, but I believe it's also about people, right? Because people make you grow. People give you their time to learn new things.

VINCENT: There are a lot about people. You can spend the full morning on the production line, discussing with the operators on the line and the technicians, to find altogether the best solution to improve the speed of the line, the production. You can build the best tool or the best programme ever - data visualisation - but if people are not using it or following you, it will be useless.

ELIO: So the operators and the technicians are as invested as the managers and the people that are decision-makers. And I think that's what may be special about how our factories work.

VINCENT: Yeah, completely. This is really a full ecosystem where people are at the centre. And without the operators, the technicians or preventive maintenance, we will not be able to supply what we are doing currently in a factory.

EMILIE: I am wondering right now, who do you talk to in your day-to-day life? Because I imagine, at some point, in one minute you are on the field talking with technicians, trying to solve a last-minute problem. And then, on the other hand, the next minute you might be on a call with some senior leadership, talking strategy.

VINCENT: Yeah, you are completely right. You are a bit of a firefighter. You don't know the day you will develop, but you can spend hours on the line. And this is the most interesting part in the job: to stay with people. They are the ones managing and knowing by heart the production lines and the production specificities. So we need to spend time with them, trying to understand and fix the issue. And then, the minute later, you will have to present your project, your roadmap and your next step to the committee of the factory. So you have to adapt constantly and navigate on those different levels, which are quite rich and make you grow really fast.

EMILIE: And that's where there is a key skill, I believe, which is adaptability. You need to adapt to people. You need to adapt to situations and different métiers. And it's very true in the factory.

VINCENT: Yeah, completely. And I think this is the best advice I can give you. Adaptability is one of my main mottos. When I switched from the headquarters operations to the factory, there is a huge bridge to cross. At the headquarters, you are more planning for long-term and mid-term situations, while in the factory you are constantly focusing on the day-to-day and making sure you win the day.

ELIO: Other than adaptability, how did you manage to take on new roles and do new missions? How did you do this gymnastics?

VINCENT: It might be the second tip I will give you: learning. As I said, L'Oréal offers you a huge platform to develop yourself and to grow. You have to be curious, to be honest, but you have access to a huge program, regardless of the topic, to train yourself. It can be e-learning or physical trainings. But take this time. It's a personal step back on your personal day-to-day activities at L'Oréal, but it will help you to maybe find your next position, find the next domain you would like to reinforce yourself or know a bit more. Learning and adaptability, I think, are the two key assets that will help you to move and grow in different positions in L'Oréal.

ELIO: I feel like, in your answers, you give a lot of soft skills and you talk about how much of an impact it has on your day-to-day job at L'Oréal. Being an engineer, and being engineers ourselves, Emilie and I as well, do you think you've acquired that before, with the theory?

VINCENT: To be honest, this is something I learned at L'Oréal. As you know, in the engineering study you learn about the core skills, but not really the soft ones. So L'Oréal is pushing you to develop those kinds of soft assets.

ELIO: And it kind of becomes natural as well?

VINCENT: Yeah, you are forced to develop that if you want to move and to make your projects moving ahead.

ELIO: Or over a coffee?