Leveraging Experience: From Intern to Full-Time
Oct 20, 2023
Our Mission to LEAD, GROW, GIVE and REMEMBER continues to direct our day-to-day work. We of course want to LEAD with people and technology. Co-Alliance has truly focused on building our bench talent. We have so much transition going on at the farmgate, and also within the walls of our cooperative. That’s why we’re on a mission to find, hire and retain the very BEST. In. The. Field.
We recently sat down with three of the best on Cultivated, a podcast delivered by Co-Alliance.
These three individuals, Hannah Deno, Kyle Pulley and Cassie Whiteman, each began their Co-Alliance experience as an intern and now they’re on our team as a full-time employee bringing remarkable value to our business.
We are in the heart of internship season. And the value of an internship is to gain valuable hands-on experience in the field you may – or may not! - want to go into. We have so many internship opportunities available, for various talents and skill sets. This conversation with those who have experienced an internship and created a career from it truly could not have come at a better time.
Though these three began as interns at some capacity, they’re all dong very different things today:
Hannah Deno approached Co-Alliance at the Purdue College of Ag Career Fair and asked them about their marketing internship. At that time, Co-Alliance didn’t have one, but Hannah was persistent. She became our first Marketing intern. Today, we’re seeking 3 for 2024! Hannah went on to intern for us for two years then joined the Marketing team at full capacity upon graduation from Purdue. She is our graphic design guru and photographer using her trained eye to ensure everything that the public sees aligns with the Co-Alliance brand, story and mission.
Kyle Pulley had a very different approach to entry with Co-Alliance. Kyle was a YieldPro intern for four summers throughout his time in college. A YieldPro interns spends their days scouting fields and being the eyes and the ears for the cooperative. Kyle then joined our team full-time as the manager of the intern program where he organized the schedules, education, and priorities of the summer YieldPro interns. He then took a brief departure from the cooperative business to try to put his college degree to work, but he returned. Kyle returned to Co-Alliance taking on a sales role as a YieldPro Specialist where he was the local face of Co-Alliance to growers in east central Indiana. Today, he’s the Manager of our R & F Agronomy Center in Madison County.
Kyle was a panelist at the 2022 Indiana State FFA Convention
We recently sat down with three of the best on Cultivated, a podcast delivered by Co-Alliance.
These three individuals, Hannah Deno, Kyle Pulley and Cassie Whiteman, each began their Co-Alliance experience as an intern and now they’re on our team as a full-time employee bringing remarkable value to our business.
We are in the heart of internship season. And the value of an internship is to gain valuable hands-on experience in the field you may – or may not! - want to go into. We have so many internship opportunities available, for various talents and skill sets. This conversation with those who have experienced an internship and created a career from it truly could not have come at a better time.
Though these three began as interns at some capacity, they’re all dong very different things today:
Hannah Deno approached Co-Alliance at the Purdue College of Ag Career Fair and asked them about their marketing internship. At that time, Co-Alliance didn’t have one, but Hannah was persistent. She became our first Marketing intern. Today, we’re seeking 3 for 2024! Hannah went on to intern for us for two years then joined the Marketing team at full capacity upon graduation from Purdue. She is our graphic design guru and photographer using her trained eye to ensure everything that the public sees aligns with the Co-Alliance brand, story and mission.
Hannah designed the huge Co-Alliance murals in the new Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion
Kyle Pulley had a very different approach to entry with Co-Alliance. Kyle was a YieldPro intern for four summers throughout his time in college. A YieldPro interns spends their days scouting fields and being the eyes and the ears for the cooperative. Kyle then joined our team full-time as the manager of the intern program where he organized the schedules, education, and priorities of the summer YieldPro interns. He then took a brief departure from the cooperative business to try to put his college degree to work, but he returned. Kyle returned to Co-Alliance taking on a sales role as a YieldPro Specialist where he was the local face of Co-Alliance to growers in east central Indiana. Today, he’s the Manager of our R & F Agronomy Center in Madison County.
Kyle was a panelist at the 2022 Indiana State FFA Convention
Cassie Whiteman began her experience with Co-Alliance her sophomore year of college, interning as a YieldPro intern for two years. She then came to work for the cooperative full time after obtaining an agronomy degree from Wilmington. Today, Cassie is the Safety & Risk Coordinator for Co-Alliance’s Ohio locations. She uses her agronomy degree weekly as she calls on agronomy, energy and grain locations to ensure safety is the priority of everyone’s daily work.
In Cassie's safety career, no two days are the same
This week, we invite you to listen to the conversation about the path these three have taken, how they address the difficulties at work and what advice they have for those just getting started.