What it does: Benefit Cosmetics is a cosmetics, fragrance, makeup and skincare product manufacturer and retailer.
Best known for: Benefit Cosmetics is part of the LVMH Group, a global luxury conglomerate of 75 high-end consumer brands.
Staff stats: More than 3,500 employees.
The good bits: Employees may have the opportunity to work overseas as part of the company’s affiliation with the LVMH Group.
The not so good bits: Most job vacancies are concentrated in European and North American locations. A lack of salary information in some countries, including the Philippines, also inhibits the chances of negotiating compensation.
Twin sisters Jane and Jean Ford established The Face Place in 1976 as the result of a coin toss: heads and they would open a casserole café; tails and the siblings would open a makeup shop. The result was obvious with the emergence of Benefit Cosmetics in 1990 after renaming their original venture.
Seven years later, the company expanded from their New York City shop to an overseas boutique in London. LVMH, a global luxury conglomerate, acquired Benefit Cosmetics in 1999. The company achieved another key milestone in 2012 when they won a Guinness World Record for the ‘most eyebrow waxes in eight hours by a team’. The company’s presence spans more than 1,400 locations in 45 countries.
Graduates and students can directly apply for internships or entry-level positions at Benefit Cosmetics. They can also submit their applications through LVMH. Applicants from the Philippines will have better luck through employee referrals, due to the lack of information about the company’s hiring process.
If you apply as a beauty advisor in Australia, you may have to wait for two weeks on average to know the results of your application. Be prepared to say what you know about Benefit Cosmetics, particularly the coin-toss moment of the twin founders. Applicants should also expect a practical test where they need to interact with in-store customers.
Most jobs at the company’s office in the Philippines may involve digital communications, marketing and sales work. The number of vacancies, though, seem to be concentrated in European and North American locations. LVMH, as the parent organisation of Benefit Cosmetics, may sponsor an employee’s overseas training assignments.
The average annual salary of a retail sales associate in the Philippines is Php238,000. It’s unclear if Benefit Cosmetics matches or exceeds this figure, although it can serve as a benchmark for fresh graduates. The company said that their ‘global benefits package’ covers employees’ health and wellness needs.
Beauty advisors earn between AUD$22 and AUD$32 per hour on average. The median hourly rate for brow experts and sales associates ranges from AUD$23 and $26. Product marketing executives earn an average annual salary between AUD$53,000 and AUD$57,000.
The monthly salary of brand executives is S$3,000 on average. Beauty advisors earn an average of S$1,000 per month. The company also provides allowances every quarter.
Marketing interns in the Philippines describe the company’s work environment as casual and fun. Some employees in Australia said that work-life balance can be difficult while working at Benefit Cosmetics, due to the need to work on weekends. In South Africa, there may be little to no room for career growth for beauty advisors and sales consultants.
Estée Lauder competes with Benefit Cosmetics and has a long corporate history. The New-York based company started in 1946. Maybelline is another top rival that operates as a subsidiary of L'Oréal. Other competitors include Bobbi Brown, Too Faced Cosmetics and Urban Decay.
Benefit Cosmetics doesn’t test their products on animals even before the European Union banned the practice in 2013. This aligns with the LVMH Group’s policy for their perfumes and cosmetics units. Benefit Cosmetics also supports the Fund for Alternatives to Animal Testing advocacy in the U.S. They also raised more than $16.5 million so far from the Bold is Beautiful project.
The program uses proceeds from client services such as the Benefit brow wax, which supports a week of programming classes for students of Girls Inc or allow a teenage girl to attend their high school prom. Two brow waxes will help in providing a makeup kit for female cancer patients, while 12 brow waxes help a woman’s access to workforce development programs.
The company’s U.K. segment drew flak in 2015 for a series of social media tweets that conveyed body-shaming messages. Benefit Cosmetics deleted the posts and apologised for the lapse in judgement, but the U.K. team inadvertently became the subject of another issue in 2017. Several people criticised the company’s in-store displays with the slogan, ‘SKIP CLASS, NOT CONCEALER’, shown alongside a photo of a sleepy woman in bed.
Individuals with a natural enthusiasm for customer service will have a better chance of thriving at Benefit Cosmetics. A passion for cosmetic, makeup and skincare retail will be a paramount factor for your success. Graduates in the Philippines should control their salary expectations, particularly due to the limited information about Benefit Cosmetics’ compensation structure.