EMEA Compensation & Benefits Intern

Describe your role and what it entails

My role involves supporting both sides of the team with day-to-day research tasks, long-standing projects, and annual renewals/processes. On the benefits side I have been heavily involved with a new benefit launch, the annual renewal of our dental benefit and company data reporting for Life Assurance and the taxable medical benefit, this consisted of both creative comms work and data handling. The Compensation side of the team has helped me to develop my analytical skills with the Merit and Bonus cycle work alongside job salary benchmarking across Europe.

What have been your highlights?

I have had many opportunities to explore other departments at Hilton and learn more about how their role affects the work that I do in my team including some time shadowing with general HR linking to my course, this has helped me to understand aspects that I may be stronger at when graduate job hunting. My role has allowed me to attend many internal and external events where I have developed my networking skills and learnt more about the department I work in and how this translates in other companies.

I have had the opportunity to work in a very positive, close-knit team that welcomed me with open arms, I have been involved in such a variety of tasks and given ownership of many mini projects (something I didn’t expect from an internship!). All whilst making some great friends and memories! 

What challenges have you faced during your internship?

When I joined my biggest weakness was definitely my Excel skills, but this very quickly changed, small tasks I was given at the start followed by tips and tricks helped me grow more confident and I ended up being given a large data-driven task 6 months into my internship where I could successfully transfer all I had learnt. Now at the end of my internship, I feel like I could confidently tackle Excel tasks when going into a graduate job and continue to develop this. 

What have you learnt from your experience in the role?

My time in this role has helped me to confirm my future career aspirations, I have learnt that I’m stronger in some areas I hadn’t initially thought I was and found other parts with room for development. But it has overall been hugely positive giving me many transferable skills that I could not have gotten in a university lecture. 

What advice would you give to a student following in your footsteps?

Very simple but completely true – don’t be afraid to ask questions! Everyone you encounter will have been in a similar position before whether that be joining a new company, trying a new role, or being stuck on something. Asking a question isn’t a negative thing and I have learnt so much just through small 2-minute questions.

Also, get involved with as much as you can, the company isn’t expecting you to know everything and will be expecting questions and you wanting to explore so make the most of that while you can.