This summer, Parker Dewey partnered with PA Bankers to host Micro-Internships in financial service roles. 

With the program underway, we checked in with Brittany Kerchersky, Assistant Vice President and Director of Human Resources at Farmers National Bank of Emlenton, about her experience hosting a Micro-Intern. Read on for Brittany’s insights!

According to Brittany, Micro-Internships create an opportunity for new talent to gain exposure to the banking industry—especially those who may not have considered a career in banking.

“The bank is always supportive of and seeking the younger generation to fall in love with banking. We are passionate about what we do and serving our communities—we believe in what a career in banking can offer and this platform gives us the additional opportunity to make those connections.”

Though Brittany was initially unsure about hosting a Micro-Intern because of confidentiality reasons, she ultimately ran a project that didn’t require sharing any sensitive information. 

“When you give it some thought, there are certainly projects that require zero information to be shared. We utilized a project for Market Research. We requested [that our Micro-Intern] research our markets and report on the various market share, where our organization ranks within those markets and within different radiuses, etc.

"We’re soon going to utilize a Micro-Intern for a project within Human Resources to enhance our hiring process. They will be researching various recruiting assessments to allow us to evaluate our candidates to ensure we are hiring the best candidate for the role.” 

Brittany shared that she was “pleasantly surprised” by the overall ease of the process and the final deliverable.  

“The process was very smooth and easy to navigate—from the posting and reviewing of candidates, to kickoff and completion. 

"We explained the project and Sebastian ran with it. We were very pleased when we got the results: very organized information that included spreadsheets, graphs, and was extremely detailed with valuable information regarding our bank footprint. Sebastian was quick to reply to my original messages, presented himself well, took notes during our conversation and delivered exactly what was asked of him and more.” 

In reflecting on her Micro-Internship experience, Brittany identified various ways that Micro-Internships support and positively impact an organization, including:

Reducing internal researching cost: “When you calculate the cost of this platform versus the salary you are paying, there is a savings there.”

Saving time: “You get to be in two places at once. You are ultimately working on your other tasks while this Micro-Intern is working alongside of you, and you are “working on two projects at once”.

Gaining a competitive advantage: “Research, at times, is the item that gets pushed to the bottom. However, understanding what the competitors are doing and how you rank within a market is necessary to the success of your organization.”

Welcoming new perspective: “We all will choose to do things the same way we have always done them, right? Allowing a new set of fresh eyes, fresh perspective, is invaluable!”

Seeing candidates in action: “You get a test drive of these interns that could potentially be employees if the time and location is right. It’s a win-win.”

Thanks, Brittany, for sharing your perspectives with us! To learn more about the PA Bankers Micro-Internship Program, click here!