Case Studies from Practice: What Is Changing in Corporate Communications and How to Start Your Career

On 16 October, third-year students of the International Communications programme (Corporate Communications specialisation) attended a lecture and meeting with representatives of L’Oréal Ukraine, held in a case-study format built around real examples from the company’s practice. More than 50 students took part. The guests were communications expert Dina Turchyna, a graduate of our Institute, and HR specialist Veronika Kryha. The meeting was organised by faculty members of the Department of International Media Communications and Communication Technologies, Professor Olena Shevchenko and Assistant Lecturer Kateryna Serbina. As students increasingly want to learn from practitioners, the department makes a point of regularly inviting professionals from leading companies to its classes.

Together with the students, Dina Turchyna worked through a real PR challenge: how to reposition a company associated primarily with skincare and present it as a technology company. The key takeaway was that press releases alone are not enough – reputation is built through real projects. Among the examples: this year, the For Women in Science awards, which support young Ukrainian women scientists, were held for the eighth time. In cooperation with the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the company is launching the For Girls in Science programme for schoolgirls. And in partnership with UNIT.City, the L’Oréal Startup Hub helps Ukrainian startups enter international markets.

The liveliest discussion was sparked by a fresh insight: brands are shifting back from influencers to online media. The reason is that AI assistants such as ChatGPT base their recommendations on publications in authoritative outlets. As a result, a brand’s presence in quality media now directly shapes what a chatbot will recommend to users.

Veronika Kryha, who herself joined the company through an internship, shared advice on how young professionals can get a foot in the door at an international company and spoke about the L’Oréal for Youth programme. The internship is paid, lasts from six months to a year, and often leads to a permanent position. Candidates are expected to have at least B1-level English. The flexible work format makes it possible to combine the internship with studies, and it can also be credited as the students’ mandatory work placement.

We sincerely thank Dina Turchyna and Veronika Kryha for the insightful conversation and their openness to dialogue! We hope that for some of our students, this meeting will become the first step towards a career at an international company.