Ruilin Wang - How a master’s in the US can open up a world of opportunity

Analyzing hospitality

Ruilin Wang always knew he wanted to work in hospitality. “The hospitality and travel industry seemed a very, very fun industry to me. Meeting people in the hospitality and travel world, it just made me feel happy.” During high school in Hungary, where he grew up, he undertook several internships and summer jobs at hotels, which only confirmed his decision to pursue hospitality as a career. But it wasn’t until he was studying for his bachelor’s at EHL, during which he took a business development internship in the Shanghai office of Hilton Hotels, that he became attracted to the role of analytics in hospitality. “It was an area that was really interesting to me,” he says. “That's how I found out I really wanted to learn more about it, and that took me to the master's program.”

What was it like being in Shanghai during that internship? 

Shanghai was amazing. I love the food scene there, and I'm from China, so it was just like going back home. One thing I think was really good is that I worked in the Shanghai office of Hilton for my internship, and then after I graduated [from the master’s], I started working in the North American office of Hilton. This really highlights the global mobility of working for Hilton or any big brand that is all around the world. I think it's a specific attribute of working in hospitality and the travel industry in general that you get to move around a lot of different places.

Why did you choose a master’s at Northeastern University?

I wanted to go to the States. Something that was important to me was to have the STEM accreditation – which basically stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – which will give you the opportunity to stay longer in the US as an international student, even after graduating. Then, combining that with the location of Northeastern, which is the city of Boston... I would say Boston is most like a European city in the States, and that's where I wanted to start. 

What did this master’s offer you?

In terms of analytics, I picked up quite a bit of technical skills, including some coding skills. EHL prepared me really well for all the business classes, but some of the newer things that I learned were on the technical side.

How was the career support at Northeastern?

It was one of the highlights. You had a one-on-one match with a career advisor, and the career advisor that I had was fabulous. He started reaching out to me even before I started my master's degree. They try to prepare you as well as possible for you to embark on a career anywhere around the world, but more specifically in the US. They helped me tailor my resumé to the US, because there are some distinctions between European and US-based resumés. I also landed an internship with American Airlines – that was an amazing opportunity that my career advisor helped me to get.

Now you’re back working at Hilton in the US. What are you doing there?

I'm part of this program that is called Launch – a new graduate rotational program. There are three different tracks for this program. I'm in a track of analytics. I'll get a chance to explore some of the more heavy analytical departments later on. But right now, what I'm doing is using a lot of Excel to try to justify any financial feasibility of Hilton investing in certain properties. It's a very finance-heavy role that uses a lot of what I learned from EHL. Also, I use some of the skills that I learned from my master's degree, such as analytical mindsets and tools to incorporate in my day-to-day role at Hilton.

If you could go back in time, would you change anything about your educational pathway? 

Actually, no. I think every single opportunity, every single experience gave me an opportunity to do something special. If you told me what I could do more of, [it would be to] just meet as many people as you can, make as many friends as you can, because they are the things that I think almost every EHL-er would treasure the most.

Check out the full list of student profiles and their diverse career paths.