HSI Internship Panel Event
September 22, 2009
Name, field of interest, location, name of company
- Victoria; marketing, PR, and Event planning; Fairmont (one month in NYC, one month in
Singapore)
- Peter Roumanis; Real estate and Hospitality; Tishman Speyer; also worked for King George in
Greek and restaurants in Paris
- Terence Hu; Real estate finance; Horwath HTL in Shanghai
- Morgan; Hospitality and financial management, international business and operations; Viola
(private equity company in Israel)
- Priya; Finance and banking; Horwath HTL in Bombay
- Ben; Hotel development and operations; Sage hospitality resources in Denver, Colorado
How did you guys get your internships? Through HSI, formal contacts, hotel school, etc.?
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Terence
o During the winter, went back to Shanghai and searched for alumni contacts in Shanghai
o Many alumni recommended Horwath HTL and also found Horwath Internship through
HSI
o Alumni made personal recommendations
o Did you have a phone interview?
 Yes, but it was very casual. They just wanted to know whether or not I could
communicate in Chinese
Peter
o Cornell Career Net Services
o Most typical way to go for finance and real-estate related jobs
o Make sure your resume is amazing
o Tip: even if you do not drop your resume, make sure you go to the information session –
you still might have a chance to get an interview even if you miss the deadline
o Tishman Speyer is only for Juniors and application deadlines are usually in Mid-Fall
Morgan
o Applied to a couple banks during internship search during October, November but not
much luck
o Met with a couple professors and talked about interested career field; received
Professor Canina’s contact and Professor Canina gave her industry contacts
o Tip: be persistent when asking professors for internship opportunities
o Was it a problem that you did not know Hebrew?
 No problems regarding to language because there are always analysts and
associates who also spoke English
 All communication was really done in English
o How much Hebrew did you pick up along the way?
 Very basic Hebrew; everyday phrases
Priya
o Got the internship through HSI
o Heard about the internship opportunity from advisor
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Application process was only written – resume and cover letter; no interview
Did they ever call you for a phone interview?
 No, just received an email that said she was selected
 All email correspondence between her and director
 Spoke with the boss before she left to set up details for the internship
Was it important for you to know the language?
 Client meetings were all in English
 Consultants spoke in English as well, but administrative assistants often did not
speak English
What was the application process like? Did it involve a formal interview or not? What should students
prepare for? What should students do to have a competitive advantage?
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Peter
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Submitted resume and cover letter through Career Net
2 employees were on campus doing interviews – a MD and an alumnus
30 minute interview with each employee and another phone interview
Fit or technical interview questions?
 Both
 Tip: spend more time preparing behavioral questions
Victoria
o Worked for the same company in December - externship
o Went through a formal 30 minute phone interview
o Asked the General Manager if she could work in New York City, instead
o Did not have to go through another interview process
o Negotiated to work in NYC for one month unpaid and the second month in Singapore
paid
o Alumni contact is very useful
Ben
o Got internship through contacting alumni in the area
o Interview was informal – just talked with analysts about what he wanted to learn from
the internship opportunity
What were your job responsibilities? Did you feel like you met your responsibilities or overwhelmed?
What could you have done better to prepare for the internship?
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Victoria
o Worked for corporate communications – technically, public relations; in Singapore,
worked for market relations
o Responsibilities included dealing with the media and designers, all travel publications,
did presentations and proposals
o Wasn’t overwhelmed because she really enjoyed what she was doing
o Could have better prepared by reading up more on travel publications to better know
what the current media was buzzing about – would have helped her pitch better stories
Peter
o Job started the first day he went in; there was no formal training program
o Inter-departmental intern including asset management, REIT, valuation, property
management
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Really liked Valuation, so focused on the Valuation Department during the internship
People in New York were actually using the work that he did
Be prepared that not all internships will be completely structured and you will definitely
have a day-to-day routine; some people can deal with this “free” aspect of it
o How did you weave yourself into the internship then?
 You really have to take the initiative. For example, if you’ve been working at a
department for a first few weeks – some people have no idea who you are or
what you’re doing there. Just ask them what they are doing and whether or not
they can help you – and start from there.
 You have to ask questions. Ask if you can sit in on a meeting. The property
manager went to LA; he just asked if he could go along and he got a chance to
go to LA.
o Sometimes, the classes you take at school really don’t matter at the internship; once
you get there, they will actually pay to teach you anyway.
Terence
o 90% of the work was in feasibility studies for new construction projects
o Update the technology and graphic sector of all the reports, websites; find tax data to
enter into reports; did a lot of unwanted labor the consultants did not want to do
o Able to go on business trips around several cities around China – analyze the local
markets, go around and look at the local hotels, talk to general managers
o Wasn’t really challenged in his position; couldn’t ask for any more responsibilities
because it required a lot of other technical skills
o Would’ve wanted to do an internship later, because the Hotel School actually has
classes that specifically train you to be better prepared for hospitality consulting
internships; if he had those skill sets, he might have been able to ask for more
responsibilities during the internship.
Priya
o Responsibilities include working on feasibility reports, do sight visits, meet with general
managers of competing hotels and interview them about how the market is looking; did
reports about the competitive set and the property; worked on excel models and did
valuation for the clients
o Boss was very open to her learning process; did not mind if she made mistakes and was
always very willing to help her out
o HA 174 class was sufficient for modeling responsibilities during the internship
Ben
o Operations company – franchises throughout the nation
o Worked in the growth and development department – looking at acquisition
opportunities
o Responsibilities included developing competitive sets, working on excel modeling
o HA 321 would have helped him have a better understanding of all the terms he heard
during the internship, so it would not hurt to take the class before your internship
o Not a structured internship – was just assigned projects as they came
 If he didn’t have enough work, he could always ask for more
 Everyone was really helpful
Compare and contrast if you had an abroad internship experience with an internship experience in the
United States? Did your internship meet your expectation?
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Victoria
o Didn’t have much expectations to begin with
o Learned the difference between American PR and Asia PR
o Really enjoyed her month in Manhattan (considered abroad for her) – lived with
someone she found on Craig’s List
o Actually thought American culture was a lot more relaxed compared to Asian culture –
everyone left work at 5 pm sharp
Peter
o Don’t be afraid to go abroad. Visas are easy when you’re American. Do it if you want to.
o Different working culture in California compared to New York. Everyone gets off work at
6.
Terence
o Abroad experience is exciting – can see local culture, economic conditions, emerging
markets
 Hotels in China are invested by the government with negative IRRs and NPVs –
it’s interesting to see hotels that are built but are mostly empty
 Corporate behavior is different because of government involvement in
corporations
Priya
o Abroad experience was a lot of fun
o Expected Horwath to be a lot bigger, but it was very casual
o Hard to ask for more work, because boss was never there; the other consultant had only
been there for one year – couldn’t really go beyond the work that was given; but still
very satisfied with the work that she was assigned
o Didn’t really know anyone because family does not live in Bombay; regrets not exploring
enough
Ben
o Internship exceeded expectations – got to be involved in real-world projects
o Worked near home, so housing and transportation were not issues
o Still got a chance to explore downtown more; got to see hotels in the city that he hadn’t
seen before