For Hannah Carter, it was love at first sight, and it all started the summer after her high school graduation. An internship at Orange County REMC blossomed into a full-blown career.

“After that first summer working here, I told my mom I wanted to work at the co-op. I wanted to stay there full time,” she said. Now, Carter is the human resources and benefits administrator at the REMC. And she says she’s in this relationship for the long haul.

Carter said her internship gave her a complete education in the workings of the cooperative. “I started working out front as a member services representative. I took payments and ran to the bank and post office every day. And then I did a little bit of all the tasks. I helped with the annual meeting. The longer I was there, I was able to do service orders, take phone calls, and walk customers through high-bill complaints and things like that. They threw me into anything and everything. I helped with some of the operations. I would work outages in the night.”

After her first summer at the REMC, Carter went to the University of Southern Indiana, where she began working on her human resources and business management degree. She continued interning at the REMC through the following three years.

After graduating from USI, the co-op did not have a full-time position available. Disappointed, Carter took an HR position at a nearby manufacturing facility. The following year, the office manager called and said the REMC had added broadband fiber to its services and was hiring. Carter leaped at the opportunity and started as a member services representative.

In 2021, the REMC had grown so much with its new fiber division that it pulled HR out of the office manager’s duties and promoted Carter as the first HR and benefits administrator. “HR, in general, is a rewarding job. You get to help people; you can learn about their families. Being at the co-op, where you’re not as big as a factory, we get that small town, family feel. It’s been a wonderful opportunity for me,” Carter said.

“The small-town life is just superior to city life … Everybody knows everybody. And that’s one thing I love about the co-op: you’re able to build so many relationships with the members.”

In her HR position, Carter gathers and reviews all job applications, does phone screening, sets up and sits through interviews, offers positions and onboards new hires, does payroll, and more. One of her favorite duties is overseeing the intern program.

“We’ve had a decent number of interns who have become full-time employees. That program means a lot to me because that’s how I started. I started when I was 18, and I learned how to do real life here. All the big moments in my life were here: I graduated high school, and then I got married and bought my first house,” she said.

“Interns,” she continued, “just have such potential for a long career with a cooperative. And the amount of growth they are capable of, and the amount of growth you can see from them being a high school intern to a college intern to a full-time employee.”

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