My experience at Lacroix Emballages
Joining
a company willing to listen to my needs
At the end of my Master’s course in Applied Modern Languages, I was looking for an international company where I could do my final placement.
I was looking at the group’s website, when a job offer for a position as an assistant in the sales office caught my attention. I decided there and then to apply for a placement.
After sending in my application, I had an interview on the company’s premises when I had the opportunity to talk to the recruitment team about the my needs in terms of the job and the skills I was expected to acquire by the University. To meet the requirements of my master’s, we added some communication tasks to my job description. That’s how I came to start my five-month placement at Lacroix Emballages.
Discovering
a work environment conducive to learning and sharing
I’m curious by nature, and I like to ask questions. I discovered that working in an open space is ideal for me, because it makes interacting with colleagues that much easier, and that allowed me to integrate into my department and the company very quickly.
Having already done one placement in a smaller company, I was enthusiastic at the idea of gaining some experience in an international group. Although the group employs a lot of people, the numbers on each site are quite small, which means you get to know people quickly and you find you’re working in family atmosphere.
During my placement I had the opportunity to meet students: students on sandwich courses and trainees in different fields. This gave me the chance to benefit from advice, to exchange ideas with them and even to work together on certain projects.
Progressing
thanks to training and regular monitoring
I was involved in writing the content of the new website and setting up some new in-house software, I translated commercial documents, and much more.
To be able to do these things, I was given training in the software I needed to use for my job. I quickly picked up the technical vocabulary and got to know the company’s products. And thanks to that knowledge, I was able to start working independently on more tasks.
Regular meetings with my placement tutor were a source of a lot of good advice and helped me to rise to the challenges and facilitate my learning experience within the company. After I’d completed the placement, the company offered me a fixed term contract to continue working on the projects that were still in progress.