How to turn your fashion internship into a job opportunity: A case study at Rouje

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Credits: Image credit: Rouje.

How can you turn a fashion internship into a short-term or permanent job opportunity? In an industry known for being particularly competitive and saturated, securing a contract is often a difficult task. Yet, some students manage to carve a niche for themselves, like Yanrong Chen, Asia marketing project manager at the French ready-to-wear brand Rouje.

Originally from China, Yanrong Chen initially studied foreign languages in her home country, learning both French and English. During her studies, she realised that she wanted to pursue a career in marketing. However, her professional experience in the field was limited. She therefore decided to leverage internships to gain experience and familiarised herself with tasks related to e-commerce, online customer experience, and influencer marketing within various companies, including the French L'Oréal Group.

Determined to excel in marketing, she joined the SKEMA Business School (Sophia Antipolis campus) in Antibes, France, for the second year of her master degree in Luxury and Fashion Management. She then developed a genuine interest in fashion, which led her to apply for a Communications and Operations internship for the Asia region at the brand Rouje. After three interviews, she was finally recruited for a six-month placement. Since October, once she was hired by the brand, Yanrong Chen has held the position of Asia marketing project Manager. In this article, she shares six tips for advancing one's position within a company.

Choosing an Internship that Matches Your Profile

"When I discovered the Rouje internship advert, I thought I was dreaming: I met all the criteria the brand was looking for," Yanrong Chen recalls fondly. She advises students seeking an internship to focus on offers where the responsibilities genuinely align with their skills. This will allow them to stand out against less qualified candidates.

Don't be naive

"It's good to have big ambitions, but you need to set achievable goals. When I was a foreign language student, I couldn't expect to land my first internship at Louis Vuitton." For Yanrong Chen, it's important to have a major objective, but also smaller underlying goals that make "your career plan more realistic."

Strive for improvement

During her internship, Yanrong Chen confides that she sought to improve daily. "What did I do today? How could I do better? Have I made progress?" are all questions the young professional asked herself.

Be proactive

Rouje's new recruit explains that her proactive nature probably contributed to her hiring. "During my internship, I tried to propose new plans and projects, to come up with ideas without being afraid to express them."

Integrate into your professional environment

"When undertaking an internship, it's essential to listen to your superiors in order to understand what they want, to grasp their expectations," emphasises Yanrong Chen. She recommends not hesitating to interact with colleagues because "you will always learn from them and develop alongside them."

Gain diverse experience

The former student, now a marketing project manager, advises accumulating different professional experiences to gain expertise. While the fashion industry and the marketing sector are considered "saturated," she remains convinced that the "right" internships make all the difference.

"Honestly, at first, I didn't think too much about getting hired. As a foreign student in France, I was already quite happy to have managed to find an internship relatively quickly. During my six months at Rouje, I preferred to immerse myself in what was in front of me and invest myself fully in my work every day. And perhaps that's what they appreciated," she concludes.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.FR, translated and edited from French into English.

It was translated by Veerle Versteeg using an AI tool..

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