The HEC Paris gap year is the most important year of the MiM. It sits between M1 and M2 and gives you two six-month internships to actually build a career trajectory. Most of the career switching, the geographic moves, and the network building that the program is famous for happens during this single year. When prospective students ask me what the gap year looks like in practice, I tell them about my two internships and how I found each one, because the path is rarely a straight line.
Here is exactly how mine went.
My first gap year internship in Los Angeles
In June of my gap year, I flew out to Los Angeles to start a six-month internship as a digital marketing intern at Giggster, a tech startup in the film locations industry. The team was small, which meant I wore many hats. I built content in the form of emails and blogs, hired and managed freelancers, jumped into customer support calls daily, and occasionally drove out with my manager to clients’ properties to shoot photos and videos.
What I valued most about Giggster was the experimentation culture. If I had reasoning behind something I wanted to try, I was allowed to try it. I made a YouTube video at one of the properties as part of a campaign. I learned to ship work without waiting for permission.
I worked in LA for five months and then did the last month remotely from India after a housing situation got tricky. That whole stretch was probably the most formative period of my early twenties.
My second gap year internship in Paris
In January, I started at MAC Cosmetics in Paris as a digital marketing and consumer engagement intern. The work was CRM-focused with some paid media on the side. Two months in, the office shut down for the pandemic and we went remote. My team added more video calls than we had in person, and I never felt cut off.
This was the first time I worked inside a large corporate structure. I learned how decisions flow through layers of approvals, and how to prioritise when three managers each had different requests every week. By the end of those six months I had two different sides of marketing on my CV: a scrappy startup in LA and a global beauty brand in Paris.
How I found the LA internship
Honestly, this one fell into my lap, and only because I was prepared when it landed.
Another HEC student had reached out to Giggster’s CEO, a French HEC alumnus, on LinkedIn months earlier. She joined as his right hand. A few months later, the team wanted a second intern in marketing and posted the job on the HEC email list. The brief asked for someone with a tech and startup background plus filmmaking or video production interest.
That description fit me almost too well. I had studied computer science, worked in marketing at a tech startup back home, ran an active YouTube channel with over eighty videos, and had done some freelance video production in Manipal. I applied, did one interview with the marketing manager, and got the offer.
Then came the J-1 visa, the flight, and the move. I would not have got this opportunity without the HEC alumni connection. I also would not have got it without the YouTube channel I had built years before. Both pieces had to be true at once.
How I found the MAC Cosmetics internship
This one was a more traditional search. In September, while I was still in LA, I started applying for January start dates in Paris. There were two weeks where I would go to the same coffee shop in Santa Monica after work, sit at the same spot, and send applications. Most went nowhere. Some came back with interviews scheduled at 7am LA time. A few times I woke up to three missed calls from recruiters in Paris and could not call back fast enough.
I found the MAC role on JobTeaser, HEC’s job board. The process took several rounds and I got the offer in October. If you are applying remotely across time zones, build a system: a separate calendar in Paris time, a CV in French if you can, and answers to common interview questions written down so you do not freeze at 7am.
What I would tell someone starting the search today
Five things matter, based on what I lived and what I have seen friends go through.
There are more channels than people realise. JobTeaser, school email lists, LinkedIn, company websites, and career fairs all surface different roles. Cast wide.
The first internship is the hardest. You are selling potential, not experience. I remember feeling lost, applying everywhere, getting ghosted constantly. It takes one yes to flip the script. I covered the emotional side in my struggles at HEC Paris.
If you do not speak French and you want roles in France, especially in marketing, the pool gets smaller. Target English-speaking teams, tech startups, or international companies. The roles exist, but you have to fish for them.
The second internship is much easier. You have one experience on your CV, you know what you want, and you are more confident in interviews.
Reach out to people directly. My HEC colleague got into Giggster by cold-emailing the CEO. The worst case is silence. The best case is a job.
If you are figuring out which field to target, marketing career path and how to build a MiM profile go deeper on positioning. The gap year is also where the math behind HEC Paris ROI starts to make sense.
Luck and preparation
The line that stuck with me from the time was that luck is opportunity meeting preparation. The LA internship was an opportunity. My background, my channel, and the timing made me ready for it. Without the preparation, the opportunity passes you. Without the opportunity, the preparation goes unused.
Both pieces have to be true. Build the preparation now. The opportunities show up in their own time.