So yesterday was my official first-day at Loreal. Woot!
I felt like a kid who's won a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. *teary eyed*
And for those of you who are wondering...YES, I've quited my job in Mont Blanc and I merely worked there for about 2 weeks+. Was there from 23rd Nov - 11 Dec. Here's the super long winded story.

I got to know about Loreal's vacancy for "Management Trainees" from Emery. There was a day where we all hung out and we were talking about jobs. I was being so dramatically pathetic because I was the only one who hasn't got a job yet. Was going on and on about my poor jobless-self. haha. When I heard about the job opening I was wondering if I should give it a try since..well, you know, there's no harm trying. About 2 days after the day we hung out, I googled "Loreal Management Trainee" and the page was just there. Before I could submit my resume, it was a requirement for us to type a 2000 words max essay explaining why we're suitable for the job. I crapped a few stuff..and I  honestly can't recall what I wrote in there. A day later, the Hr senior exec called. His name is Dan. A phone interview was conducted and he said that if I'm shortlisted I would be called up for a face to face interview. At that point in time, I was thinking "oh damn, I screwed up the phone interview. There goes my chance".

Surprisingly, they did call me back for a face to interview. Went for it, and waited again.
The following week I was called back for an assessment. That was the time I met up with a college mate of mine, Ming Ser. The assessment was really fun. It started with a self description. In the self description section of the assessment, we were required to pick an avatar from the com which represented us and briefly explain why we chose the particular avatar. There were also some individual and group presentations where we were given a box of products. The last part of the assessment was a round-table discussion where we were given a few pages of case study and we had to decide where we would open a new factory in a new country and we had to make our choice of place as convincing as possible. Throughout the whole assessment there were a panel of assessors who would sit around and watch us. I would say it was a pretty long assessment. Was fun nonetheless. =)

The following week after that I got an email by Loreal which says "thank you for participating in the Loreal assessment" yadda yadda. Basically letting me know that I've totally, miserably FAILED. Was kinda down, but decided not to let it bother me too much. At the same time, the next day, Cesarine from Mont Blanc called me up and told me that they were keen on hiring me. I accepted the job without a thought because I didn't want to continue being jobless, plus Mont Blanc was a pretty good brand plus I could see some future with the company. However, just 3 days after I begun in Mont Blanc, Dan from Loreal called me up. He told me that initially the e-mail sent was a mistake and I was invited for a panel interview. -______- I told him, "it's okay..I've already found a job..thanks for calling anyway". After putting down the phone, I breathed a deep breath..started wondering if I made the right decision when all of a sudden he called again. This time, he told me to re-consider. I then told him, I would call him back. Consulted my mom, bf and all, and was encouraged to go for it. So, I scheduled an interview with him the very next day.

At the panel interview, I was asked loads of questions by the head of the departments and the hr director. They were interviewing in pairs. So technically, I went for 2 interviews in a day. Honestly, after the panel interview I didn't know if I could make it because when I told them that I've gotta give a month's notice to Mont Blanc before quitting, the HR director said something like "oh..that's too long..we can't wait that long". Kinda gave up hope again. But, at night, around 7pm+ Mei Kuen called and told me that Loreal would like to hire me as their Management Trainee. I was ecstatic! The only thing I was worried about was my current job at the time. I mean, my manager in Mont Blanc was a very nice lady, she was really nice to me. And I just didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything. So I had to toughen it up to let her know. Initially I thought I would have to pay Mont Blanc a month's pay for an early release so Mei Kuen said they could buy me out of the company if that's the case. But, my ex-manager was nice enough to let me off early and pay me for the days I've been there as well. God bless her soul. She's a wonderful woman.

After all that, I finally stepped foot into Loreal officially as a management trainee yesterday and met up with 3 others who were starting with me as well. They're Ashley, Julian and David. The other 2 girls couldn't make it because they were away for their graduation. I've met them though, at the hospital while I was going for the medical check up for Loreal. =)

Yesterday, the whole "Plan" for next year have been laid out for us. I'm really impressed with everything they did so far. We had super fun games, they treated us lunch, briefed us through their product portfolio, history, mission, etc. Plus, we got to hear from some of the previous management trainees. All of them said that it would be a tough ride but at the end of the day, it would be fruitful. They said that the most important thing was Perseverance. Not only that, we got to hear from the Loreal Malaysia's MD as well.

Did you know that Loreal's Managing Director, GM, Brand Managers were mostly Managment Trainees by Loreal themselves? And despite the economy downturn the company was able to generate more revenues?
I'm amazed.

Never in a million years I thought I would be able to end up as 1 of the 6 management trainees selected. I'm blessed, truly.

This is where my career path truly begins I suppose. =)