Test Drive Top Talent, Risk-Free

Micro-Internships are short-term, paid, professional assignments that enable Career Launchers to demonstrate skills, explore career paths, and build their networks. They can take place year-round, typically require 10 to 40 hours of work by the student, and are due within a few days to a few weeks.

Parker Dewey's candidate engagement and insights platform enables employers to evaluate early-career talent based on actual project performance—before making full-time hiring decisions.

For a limited time, Virginia-based organizations can participate in the Virginia Micro-Internship Experience. For this program, through state-support funding, the fees for projects hosted are fully covered by SCHEV/V-TOP once your project is approved. Students are paid directly by Parker Dewey in compliance with Virginia minimum wage laws. For a 15-hour project, students will receive $315. There is no cost to the employer at any stage of the process.

If you are not participating in the Virginia Micro-Internship Experience, you set the price for each project that you post. All projects are fixed-fee, and most are listed between $200-$600, typically implying $20-25/hour based on estimated hours of work. 90% of this fee goes directly to the intern.

There are no obligations or other fees even if the relationship turns into an internship or full-time role.

Micro-Intern projects are designed to be very low-lift for your team.

• You'll choose a point person (hiring manager, team lead, or another employee) to own the project.
• Up front, they'll share the basics—the goal, expectations, and any key materials—so the Micro-Intern can get started quickly.
• Check-ins are flexible (email, Zoom, chat—whatever is easiest).
• Our team supports you throughout, so you're not doing this alone.

Because Parker Dewey Career Launchers already have core skills and are eager to deliver, management is minimal. Most managers spend less than an hour total over the course of the project, including providing actionable feedback.

In short, it's easy as Parker Dewey handles it all. No HR burdens. No conversion fees. No questions about ownership or worries about confidentiality.

Employment: Micro-Interns are not your employees, contractors, interns, temps, or freelancers. Similar to working with a consulting firm or any other service provider, you are engaging Parker Dewey LLC to complete the assignment, and each individual you select is a contractor or employee of Parker Dewey. You can still directly interact with them as much or little as you would like, and always have the opportunity to hire them directly without any costs or fees.

Liability: We're mission-driven and believe in the power of creating opportunities. That said, we take on all the liability. Not happy with the work product? We'll give you a full refund or find an alternate Career Launcher.

Work Product: All work product is owned by you.

Confidentiality: While most projects involve public-facing information of a non-sensitive nature, both Parker Dewey and all Career Launchers sign strict NDAs to protect your information. In addition to the standard provisions, the students understand that they are risking their academic transcript or expulsion for any violation of confidentiality.

Background Checks: Given the short-term nature and structure of these assignments, we do not conduct background checks. While companies are always welcome to conduct a background check directly, the nature of the specific assignments and lack of a direct relationship with the individual who is selected has caused most organizations to defer the background check until after a Micro-Internship is completed and a student is offered a traditional internship or full-time role.