What Are Micro-Internships?

All Parker Dewey Micro-Internships are short-term, paid, professional projects designed to help employers connect with and assess college students and recent grads all while getting real work done. Whether you’re looking to build your early-career pipeline, increase hiring equity, or just need a project off your team’s plate, Micro-Internships deliver value while our team helps you identify skills, interest, engagement, and predictive hiring data.

What Is a Micro-Internship?

A Micro-Internship is a short-term project (typically 10–40 hours of work) that an early-career professional completes on their own schedule. This model, pioneered by Parker Dewey in 2015, helps your team accomplish tasks while giving you a firsthand look at potential candidates’ skills.

Think of it as a test drive for hiring — no long-term commitment, no red tape, just real results.

• Projects typically last 2–4 weeks
• Paid opportunities for early-career professionals
• No onboarding, payroll, or HR setup required
• Available on-demand, whenever your team needs help

Why Micro-Internships Work for Employers

Hiring early-career talent can be a challenge. Resumes don’t always tell the full story, and while internships can offer meaningful insight, they’re often seasonal and accessible only to a narrow pool of students. Behind the scenes, they require coordination across teams, custom feedback processes, and tools that don’t always connect, making it hard to see clear ROI from a single platform. Parker Dewey offers a smarter, more flexible alternative.

Real Work, Real Insight

See how candidates think, communicate, and execute before you make a hiring decision. Micro-Internships give you more than a GPA or cover letter ever could.

Create a More Equitable Hiring Process

Micro-Internships expand access for students from all backgrounds, reducing barriers like geography, unpaid work, or personal networks. You gain a more diverse talent pipeline and stronger hires.

Pipeline Building Without the Pressure

Use Micro-Internships as an always-on recruiting strategy. Identify high-potential candidates and invite top performers to apply for full-time roles, while keeping up- and- comers engaged.Showcase the value of your programs to students and employers.

What Kinds of Projects Work Best?

The best Micro-Internships are mutually beneficial. Companies get work done while identifying and auditioning potential job candidates, and Career Launchers demonstrate skills, gain experience, and explore career paths.

Sales & Marketing
Lead generation, social content, email campaigns

HR & Recruiting
Job description writing, diversity research, LinkedIn audits

Finance & Operations
Competitive analysis, cost comparisons, process documentation

Tech & Product
QA testing, user research, data entry or clean-up

See Example Projects

While we were focused on just getting some help on a project, we quickly realized that the student was incredible, and ultimately hired her as a summer intern. We saw her work ethic and skills, and got an inside track on hiring her.

Adam Hecktman,

Director of Technology & Civic Innovation,

Microsoft

This is the 'anti-staffing firm.' I set the price for the assignment, picked who I wanted, and when I decided to hire her, there were no fees.

Greg Watkins,

Talent Acquisition Manager,

MHolland

Using Parker Dewey was so easy! I didn't need to spend time onboarding because the Career Launcher understood my project from their coursework. Getting them started was effortless.

Jason Lobel,

CEO,

Swift IQ

Not only did the Career Launcher shine, he excelled. He took the brand to a new level and challenged our group to think outside the box. Could not have been more pleased or grateful for the opportunity to work with this motivated individual. It's all about opportunity and Parker Dewey gives students exactly that. I look forward to our next project!

Andrew Albert,

Medical Director,

Advocate Health Care

While I love the mission, I also love how this makes my life easier.

Courtney Reilly,

Director of Special Projects,

LeapInnovations

Parker Dewey has become invaluable in my prospecting and research - even sourcing a six-figure deal! As a sales executive, there are never enough hours in the day to execute time-intensive, high-value tasks. I'd recommend anyone in a sales-related capacity to leverage the highly motivated talent on Parker Dewey to get work done and crush quota.

Mike Hillock,

Account Executive,

HTX Services

The project was more than affordable and I couldn’t have been more impressed with the talent I was able to choose from to get the project complete.

Brian Bar,

Founder & CEO,

Victory Lap

We had a terrific experience with Parker Dewey and the intern we worked with was fantastic! The data she provided was beyond our expectations and she completed the work in a timely fashion. We are thoroughly impressed with the ease and process Parker Dewey offers and we will undoubtedly return with future opportunities for these stellar students. Thank you Parker Dewey for helping our company!

Laura Neiman,

President,

Neiman Brothers Company

Why Parker Dewey Micro-Internships?