Tyler Harriett spent the summer of 2017 as an intern with North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives while pursuing an engineering degree at East Carolina University. Nearly a decade later, he is director of engineering at Halifax EMC in Enfield.

For nearly a decade, NCEC has helped bridge the gap through a statewide internship program that handles logistical issues, subsidizes positions and even helps with housing.

The program enables the state’s co-ops—many of them in remote areas—to compete with larger companies for quality candidates at a time when one in six co-op employees is nearing retirement.

“The future success of our individual cooperatives depends on the talent we develop today,” said Dana Davis, vice president, human resources at the Raleigh-based statewide association. “These efforts will help to strengthen the workforce our industry will rely on for years to come.”

Without the partnership, most of the 10 co-ops who’ve participated so far said they would not have been able to host one of the program’s 50 interns.

“It’s tough to recruit to the rural areas,” Halifax CEO Tucker Lemley said. “Some co-ops are fortunate enough to be closer to some of the growing metro areas, and they’ve found recruiting a little easier. We’re fortunate where we’ve been able to use this program to import interns to our area, and we let them know about options elsewhere in the co-op network.”

To make internships feasible, participating co-ops tap into the statewide’s expertise in recruiting, interviewing and onboarding, as well as its relationships with colleges and universities across North Carolina. Each year, Davis and Human Resources Manager Lauren Liles put the internship program on colleges’ radars.

“It’s so much more attractive when we can tell our story and our mission of working to enrich our members’ lives, ultimately benefiting the communities they serve,” Liles said.

Recruiting can be particularly difficult for co-ops in rural areas, especially when they are competing with employers in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, one of the country’s premier technology hubs. Davis said the statewide overcomes that challenge by playing up the local impact of cooperative careers and the increasingly technology-driven nature of the electric utility industry.

“There was a point in time where everybody wanted to work at Google and Facebook because utilities were not seen as technology companies,” Davis said. “But if you look at the way the grid is changing and the way it’s being managed, we are absolutely a technology industry now.”

The statewide and co-ops work together to ensure that interns have a meaningful experience once they arrive. Onboarding takes place at its Raleigh headquarters and includes strength assessments and a co-op 101 deep dive. The statewide also provides supervisor guides to help co-ops create meaningful projects.

“The time we spend on professional development is really what’s special about our program,” Davis said. “We spend a lot of time up front making sure projects are defined and they really understand our mission.”

Using work plans developed by co-ops—most focus on engineering, IT or cybersecurity—Davis and her team help with placements, often near the interns’ hometowns.

“That way, we’re matching up the college student with areas of interest,” said Paul Spruill, CEO of Tideland EMC.

He pointed to Andrew Aycock, a data-focused engineering intern. Aycock's summer 2025 experience with Tideland focused on data analysis and engineering planning projects, helping him secure a full-time position after graduation. He is now a planning engineer at Fredericksburg, Virginia-based Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.

Davis said the broader goal of the program is to expose talented students to the wide range of careers available at co-ops.

“The emphasis is: How do we get the best and brightest talent to consider joining the cooperatives?” Davis said. “They could be our next corporate communicator or next CEO. We have lots of opportunities here.”

For Davis, Harriett's journey from intern to engineering director demonstrates what the program can accomplish.

“I want to make sure they know who we are and that we’re a good place to work,” Harriett said. “We make sure that we host a summer intern each year just to keep that pipeline of talent coming.”