Went through L'Oréal's interview process for a digital marketing role, but the behavioral panel apparently applies across functions including tech, so sharing what I learned.
L'Oréal has a set of internal competencies they call something like their "Leadership Competencies" framework. The recruiters don't always name the framework, but the questions all trace back to it. Once you recognize the pattern, prep gets a lot more focused.
The themes I kept seeing Innovator / entrepreneurial spirit. Multiple questions about taking initiative without being asked. "Tell me about a time you identified an opportunity nobody had put on your roadmap and pursued it." They really mean it. L'Oréal has this internal culture around intrapreneurship. People leadership and development. Even for individual contributor roles, they asked about mentoring, influencing without authority, giving feedback. "Tell me about a time you helped someone on your team grow." Achieving results under pressure. Classic high-stakes delivery question. "Describe a situation where you had competing priorities and a hard deadline. How did you handle it?" Consumer/customer obsession. This one's more CPG-specific. They want to know you think about end users. For a software role the question was: "Tell me about a time you used customer feedback to change a technical decision." Adaptation and learning agility. "Tell me about when your approach didn't work and you had to change course quickly."
Advice
Have 5-6 strong STAR stories that you can flex across these themes. They do listen for structure, but it doesn't need to be robotically structured. The key is specificity: they push back on vague answers with "what was your specific role in that."
Also: be ready to talk about L'Oréal's brands specifically. They ask "why L'Oréal" and generic "big company, good culture" answers don't land. Mention a specific brand or product line you actually use or find interesting.