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Being a trainee at Danone
:: Wherever it may ultimately lead, an internship in our group is an enriching and fulfilling experience for students or new graduates. Internships build self-esteem and are meant to give students the chance to work beside skilled staff to enhance their career paths, introduce them to possible new paths, and begin learning the ropes of professional life. Danone favors long-term internships (6 months on average) to make the most of this immersion in the working world. And the best interns may well find themselves swiftly recruited because, at Danone, we prefer to hire junior staff from among our interns.
Here’s one account from Antonin, a former Paris intern, now Web Marketing Specialist for Nutricia in Amsterdam.
:: How did you start your internship with the group?
Antonin : I completed my Masters in Communications at the IAE in Aix-en-Provence and answered an ad placed by the Danone Communications Department. The internship offer was a perfect match to my background: my studies had centered on corporate communications, I speak fluent English, and I’d had many experiences abroad, including in Spain, England, and Australia. I’m sure these skills and experiences helped tip the scales.
:: What kinds of specific assignments were you given?
Antonin : I was given quite a number of different tasks in the International Coordination division of the Corporate Communications Department. The principle assignment was to be the contact point and resource for the international speakers’ network, making sure all presenters had the communication tools they needed. I helped upgrade the group’s intranet tool, and I also project-managed the design of the website for Danone Research, the group’s research center. Teaming with a communications agency, I created a media relations kit for Trust by Danone, which included a press release, a detailed presentation of the event, and other documents for countries to use to help them roll out the Trust by Danone operation. I also drafted “position papers” outlining Danone’s stand on certain subjects like health, food, and the environment. All these assignments, whether reactive or proactive, put me in direct contact with Danoners at all levels in many countries, and put my theoretical skills into practice.
:: You were then hired to work in the Nutricia Global Web Department in Amsterdam as a Web Marketing Specialist. Was your internship a key factor in your getting this job?
Antonin : Of course. After a six-month internship at Danone, I’d made a lot of contacts in the group, and I’d had time to prove myself. The Amsterdam Communications Director invited me to interview for a job with Nutricia. I already knew the territory, so I signed a fixed-term contract for a year, which will no doubt become a permanent contract when the year is over.
:: What do you like about belonging to the big Danone family?
Antonin : Mainly the fact that I fit in and was accepted very quickly. As soon as you walk into Danone, you can feel the human dimension at the heart of the business. And now that I work in Amsterdam, I’m part of a team made up of several nationalities, and we’re mostly pretty young: the average age is barely thirty, which makes for a dynamic work environment and creates a desire to keep moving toward the future, to keep dreaming up new projects.
