Positively PINK: How I Landed My Internship at Victoria’s Secret PINK by Cam Buttrick
Editor’s note: Welcome to Behind The Offer, a series aimed at connecting early-career professionals with personal essays from their peers about how they landed their dream role—and how they can too!
Expect real application and interview advice from real people, as well as insider tips on landing your next internship, campus ambassador role, rotational program, and everything in between.
Today’s essay is from Cam Buttrick, a Summer 2025 Brand Strategy Intern at Victoria Secret’s Pink
Cam’s Bio:
Hi! I’m Cam Buttrick! I’m a recent 2025 graduate from Flagler College and just wrapped up my internship at Victoria’s Secret PINK on their Brand Strategy team! Let me start by saying the job market right now is so insanely oversaturated, and I have 100% gotten more rejections than acceptances. Still, Victoria’s Secret was by far the most impactful internship I’ve ever done, and I cannot speak higher of it!
My journey on the job
Through my work with PINK, I got to develop and execute a full influencer seeding kit campaign for National Ice Cream Day, work on our PINK x LoveShackfancy pop-up event in NYC,
help source vendors for our in-store activations, and creative direct (and star in, lol) “Day in My Life as a PINK Intern” social media content that was posted on our website homepage!
Let's go back to the beginning of how I got this internship in the first place.
When I was looking at the application, that oh-so-scary LinkedIn tab said over 1,000 other people had already applied, so I knew I wanted to do something to make my application stand out.
Here’s the step-by-step process I followed that led me to securing the position.
MY APPLICATION APPROACH
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MY APPLICATION APPROACH 〰️
Step 1: Do something to stand out!
For me, I wanted to show my creativity and work experience, so I made a custom portfolio for Victoria’s Secret, complete with their branding and a “Why I Love VS” page. You could also do this by creating a mock campaign for Victoria’s Secret and making that a dedicated portfolio as well.
Step 2: Don’t shut up about it!
I made the portfolio, but it wasn’t getting any traction, so I made a TikTok about it (making sure to tag the brand). I also made a LinkedIn post about the TikTok about the portfolio, and that’s what really set me apart. It got enough traction that people started tagging their connections at the brand, and eventually, a recruiter reached out.
Step 3: SHOW YOUR PASSION!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a firm believer that you can be taught skills, but you can’t be taught passion! I had a total of 7 calls/ interviews!!
1: “Informal” call with the recruiter for her to get my career background and decide which specific team I should be placed with
2-6: Interviews with two different teams, one person at a time. (2 interviews total per team)
7: Final interview with HR!
During every call and interview, I made sure to highlight not only relevant work experience but also my passion for the brand and to cite specific examples.
Step 4: Do your research!
Since I was already a fan of the brand, I knew a lot about their recent campaigns, but I also made sure to read up on their policies and the events/creators they’d worked with. If they came up in the interview, I could add my perspective, or I could be the one to bring it up to reinforce my passion.
Step 5: Follow-ups!
After every call, I sent a personalized thank-you email. I made sure to include actual relevant details from our chats so I wasn’t just sending a generic “thanks for your time, hope to see you soon.”
“Example: Hi NAME, I wanted to thank you again for our call today!
Getting the specific breakdown of what the role entails was so beneficial and so exciting to hear the behind-the-scenes of the VS and PINK initiatives.”
A friendly reminder
Getting an internship at a major company can seem so daunting, but remember: no matter your career background, if you’ve got the passion and the drive, you can make it happen!!
Always happy to answer additional questions! Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram :)
