Dive Brief:

• Microsoft and freelancer platform Parker Dewey are expanding their existing micro-internship program for college students and recent graduates. According to a press release, Parker Dewey said the partnership can help Microsoft's progress on diversity initiatives and its development of career pathways for early-career workers.
• Parker Dewey's micro-interns are students or recent graduates who apply for paid, project-based opportunities. If selected for a project, interns gain work experience and coaching — and may also have the opportunity to work remotely, per Parker Dewey's official site.
• Micro-internships also help Microsoft reach out to non-traditional schools and majors, according to the release. Parker Dewey said the micro-internships offer employers early access to college students, along with the ability for employers and students "mutually assess fit" prior to an internship or full-time job offer.

Dive Insight:

Micro-internships are a potential way for employers to evaluate talent, and Parker Dewey is keen on expanding the model. Like normal internships, micro-internships can help employers juggle multiple projects while offering students and job seekers a chance to test the waters in their field or in a specific organization. But micro-internships differ from their counterparts in that they specifically focus on one project, Parker Dewey CEO Jeffery Moss previously told HR Dive.

"While my initial need was support on a specific assignment, I quickly realized that this was a great way to identify high-potential talent," Adam Hecktman, Microsoft's director of technology and civic innovation for Chicago, said in a statement. "And given Microsoft's focus on workforce development, we recognize the importance and value of looking beyond degree and GPA to find candidates with the right skills and ability to learn — this helps us do that."

Internships are taking on a variety of forms in today's job market. For example, return-to-work programs (also called "returnships") are growing as employers look to bring talent back into the fold after a prior departure from the workforce due to parenting or caregiving. Demand for interns is particularly high in some fields; tech industry interns can command up to or just shy of $8,000 a month at companies like Facebook, Amazon and Salesforce.