How to complete an internship within the 3rd largest advertising group in the world, Publicis? How does the recruitment process work? Ilhame, a student at NEOMA and intern at Publicis as a social media consultant, gave us all the secrets to a successful interview. She also lifts the veil on her daily life within the company.
Publicis is a French communications group created in 1926 by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. Today led by Arthur Sadoun, it is one of the three main communications groups in the world. It is present in around a hundred countries in the four corners of the world. It has around 80,000 employees.
Ilhame’s journey
Can you present your journey?
After obtaining a baccalaureate with a scientific option in Morocco, I completed two years of preparatory class at the Residence in Casablanca. I then joined NEOMA BS, on the Reims campus, in L3, as part of the Parcours Grande École. At the end of this year, I was taken on a 4-month fixed-term contract as an events project manager at EBG (Electric Business Group).
During my second year, I chose specializations in social networks and marketing. I then opted for a gap year where I did my first internship at Prisma Media as a digital marketing and innovation assistant within the women’s department. And, currently, I am a junior social media consultant within the Publicis group.
Recruitment processes at Publicis
How did the recruitment processes work at Publicis?
I first applied on JobTeaser by sending my CV directly. A few days later, I was contacted by two managers with whom I spoke on Teams for about an hour. I mainly had to answer questions relating to my background and the field of communication. For example, I was asked: Which recent communication campaign had the most impact on you and why? They also asked me to answer a question in English in order to assess my language level.
I advise anyone interested in the position to provide truthful information on their CV, given that managers very often come back to the elements mentioned there and want to know if the candidate’s profile corresponds to the spirit of the group. Managers are keen, during this exchange, to assess the candidate’s level of compatibility with the position.
Once this step was validated, I had to carry out a practical case in one hour. It was divided into 3 exercises which consisted of:
- Post 3 tweets based on articles
- Write a LinkedIn post in English, putting myself in the shoes of a CEO
- Come up with a list of five sports micro-influencers and explain why they are most relevant to a particular event
A week later, I received a response from my managers who told me the good news.
The internship at Publicis
How is your internship going? Did you notice a difference between the image you had of Publicis and reality?
There was no difference between the image I had of Publicis and the reality. This is a very demanding sector that requires a lot of work, but my managers are very caring and respectful and the teams I work with are very attentive.
The schedules remain important but this is an aspect for which I had prepared in advance. It is important to go through this box to quickly improve your skills and develop professionally. Thanks to the various training courses and continuous contact with customers, I managed to be operational very quickly. Managers quickly give you responsibility and consider you an important element for the smooth running of missions.
What exactly are your missions during this internship?
I participate in the definition and implementation of editorial strategies. This concretely consists of developing editorial calendars and producing visual and creative content on social networks.
I also take care of running social platforms by managing all publications and ensuring moderation and the development of reports. Another part of my internship consists of carrying out strategic monitoring and opinion analysis by producing benchmarks and mappings of online communities. One of the key events that I had the chance to participate in during these six months of internship is Vivatech. I was in fact responsible for managing the publication of posts and stories from the event.
What is a typical day like at Publicis?
I am, of course, responsible for certain missions which do not vary over the weeks, such as writing publications on the editorial calendar, but it is very rare that my days are the same. My missions differ depending on the needs of clients and the events that mark the week.
Generally, I start my day by monitoring and checking our clients’ social networks to retweet or respond to certain comments. I then attend meetings scheduled during the day, either with clients or with my team. I then prepare the posts and publications planned for the week.
Digital marketing professions
Why did you choose a career in digital marketing?
I consider myself to be a very creative person and I am passionate about creating content for social media. I also have a page Instagram dedicated to travel and food which is particularly close to my heart and which I aim to develop in the future by offering quality content.
Working in the field of digital marketing helps me a lot to acquire the tools to perfect my own page. Ideally, afterward, I would like to work in the food industry and stay in the field of social networks.
Any final advice for those who want to join Publicis?
Before applying for an internship offer at Publicis, you absolutely must have certain qualities. It is indeed necessary to be patient and have the ability to adapt in all situations. You should know that we do not choose the clients we work with and that, in certain cases, they can be very demanding.
Likewise, it is recommended to be extremely organized And versatilesince we work on themes and areas (real estate, technology, etc.) which vary from one client to another. Furthermore, I advise anyone interested in this field to be curious and to never stop learning and to constantly nourish their creativity.
For the interviews, I would like to point out that in my case, I did not have professional experience in the field of social networks, I was still taken on thanks to the fact that I maintained my own Instagram page. In some cases, the aspects of our personality that seem trivial to us can make the difference in an interview. We must therefore not neglect any passion.
