Intern Spotlight: Bennett Perlinger
Jul 28, 2022
Meet Bennett Perlinger! This summer he is the Human Resources intern located in Dorchester, NE.
Where are you from?
I am from Paxton, NE.
Where do you go to college?
I go to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and I’m majoring in Business Management.
Why did you choose to be an intern with Farmers Cooperative?
Beforehand, I had known some previous interns who really enjoyed their experience and learned a lot throughout the summer. This is the first summer where I haven’t worked back home with my family doing ag operation, so I felt like this was a great opportunity to see more of the business side of agriculture while still feeling like I was connected to my roots.
What are some of your daily tasks?
In HR, things never stay the same. I’ve had the opportunity this summer to go in three different phases with three HR employees. I’ve gone from recruiting in the first part of the summer to learning about payroll and benefits management to more of the employee experience and policy. The average day is running through emails, answering as many questions as possible, and meeting with the team to see what responsibilities need to be checked off the list. Overall, every day is different and there’s always stuff we need to be tackling.
What is one thing you’ve learned that you didn’t think you would have?
One thing that I’ve learned is that there are so many different parts that go into running a business, especially a company of this size. Things can be as complex or as simple as you’d like them to be. Here, we’ve got all of these different departments coming together and HR for a company of this size can have so many different moving parts all at the same time. It’s important to keep things simple sometimes. You have to be able to delegate tasks and let people handle their responsibilities. You also have to have a good team that you can trust.
What has been your favorite part of your internship so far?
My favorite part has been all of the intern events we’ve done throughout the summer. I’ve been able to learn a ton on the job from day to day, but those events are set up to be an entire day of learning for us and teaching us lessons that will help us in our professional lives. Whether that’s through the Nebraska Cooperative Council intern retreat, the professional development day, or the careers day, there’s been a lot of different events focused on helping develop our intern group.
Moving forward, what job/career path do you see yourself pursuing?
I’ve really enjoyed Human Resources so far. It is hard to say just because I have another year of school left and you never know where different opportunities will take you. I have really liked working for the cooperative and staying in the agricultural field. It’s been a lot of fun doing all of the aspects of HR but especially in recruitment. I could see myself potentially going into that role.
What is one fun fact about yourself?
I have a twin brother.
Where are you from?
I am from Paxton, NE.
Where do you go to college?
I go to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and I’m majoring in Business Management.
Why did you choose to be an intern with Farmers Cooperative?
Beforehand, I had known some previous interns who really enjoyed their experience and learned a lot throughout the summer. This is the first summer where I haven’t worked back home with my family doing ag operation, so I felt like this was a great opportunity to see more of the business side of agriculture while still feeling like I was connected to my roots.
What are some of your daily tasks?
In HR, things never stay the same. I’ve had the opportunity this summer to go in three different phases with three HR employees. I’ve gone from recruiting in the first part of the summer to learning about payroll and benefits management to more of the employee experience and policy. The average day is running through emails, answering as many questions as possible, and meeting with the team to see what responsibilities need to be checked off the list. Overall, every day is different and there’s always stuff we need to be tackling.
What is one thing you’ve learned that you didn’t think you would have?
One thing that I’ve learned is that there are so many different parts that go into running a business, especially a company of this size. Things can be as complex or as simple as you’d like them to be. Here, we’ve got all of these different departments coming together and HR for a company of this size can have so many different moving parts all at the same time. It’s important to keep things simple sometimes. You have to be able to delegate tasks and let people handle their responsibilities. You also have to have a good team that you can trust.
What has been your favorite part of your internship so far?
My favorite part has been all of the intern events we’ve done throughout the summer. I’ve been able to learn a ton on the job from day to day, but those events are set up to be an entire day of learning for us and teaching us lessons that will help us in our professional lives. Whether that’s through the Nebraska Cooperative Council intern retreat, the professional development day, or the careers day, there’s been a lot of different events focused on helping develop our intern group.
Moving forward, what job/career path do you see yourself pursuing?
I’ve really enjoyed Human Resources so far. It is hard to say just because I have another year of school left and you never know where different opportunities will take you. I have really liked working for the cooperative and staying in the agricultural field. It’s been a lot of fun doing all of the aspects of HR but especially in recruitment. I could see myself potentially going into that role.
What is one fun fact about yourself?
I have a twin brother.