#aonhewitt

written by Brent Murri

Stephen Powell, a Finance major in the Marriott School, interned at Aon Consulting (now AonHewitt Consulting) this past summer.  During his time at Aon, Stephen contributed as valuable member to their Health and Benefits Consulting team.

Where did you intern and for how long?

I interned with AonHewitt Consulting (formerly known as just Aon Consulting) in Los Angeles, CA.  During my three-month internship, I held the position of an Associate Consultant in Health and Benefits. 

What was your role and responsibilities in that position?

I was a Health and Benefits Associate.  This meant that I helped company analyze data on health and benefit plans for companies in order to propose to them the best package for their employees.   My responsibilities included peer reviews, producing financial documents for clients, presenting financials to clients in board meetings, gathering and searching through census data such as medical records for employees, and running trend analysis for that data.  After reading through this data, we were able to estimate the best rate at which companies should set their health and benefits packages.  

Why are you interested in this particular type of consulting?

In the long run, I want to get into hospital administration.  By working with AonHewitt, I have a great opportunity to see the medical field from the insurance side.  I would recommend this type of consulting to anyone who wants to gain a door of entry into consulting, but is also anyone interested in the medical field.

Tell me about a project that you worked on during the internship.

When I was working with a specific client, I was given a census consisting of data such as how much each person paid for insurance, their lifestyle, their medical history and expenditures, information on kids/spouse, etc.  Then I filtered that information in order to get valuable data that would help me determine the correct rate at which they should be charged for a health and benefits plan.  I performed trend analysis to make financial predictions to come up with the benefit rates.  Then I presented that data to the client’s board of HR.  They took my analysis to compare provider rates for benchmarking purposes. I helped the client get fair benefits rates with their providers.  They decided to stay with us (AonHewitt) because of my accurate calculations, which saved them the most money.

What skill or quality that you possess best suited you for this internship?

My skill in Microsoft Excel proved to be extremely valuable.  I was given much more responsibility because I could operate the software better than previous interns.  This really impressed my supervisors.  As for as a quality, my optimism in the workplace was what most impressed my coworkers.  I was told that many people had commented on how pleasant I was to work with, which seemed to have an impact on many there.  Optimism makes the working environment easier and leads to better cooperation in the day-to-day operations.  I was told that this quality had a huge impact on why I was extended a full-time offer after I had completed the internship.

What does a student need to do to get an internship with Aon Hewitt Consulting?  

They [AonHewitt] came to campus to interview and do information sessions. I couldn’t go to the information session, so I asked to meet with them one-on-one for thirty minutes.  I asked for phone numbers and emails of people to contact.  Then I did tons of research on the company.  Know about the industry before you ask questions.  I was calling people at least every other day from the time I met them until the first interview.  I continued to call them between each round of interviews, constantly asking questions about the company and industry.  Have specific questions about the industry.  Call a different person everyday with a different question.  I would ask questions such as: “What have past interns done wrong?” “What has worked for them in the company?” “What hasn’t?” “How is the current healthcare reform affecting your career?”  “What is Aon doing to stay competitive in the H&B market?”