NORWICH – Dozens of summer interns walking the path of career placement and professional experience at NBT Bank this summer attended a day-long event at the Canasawacta Country Club Thursday receiving job advice from bank executives and college advisors before they head back to school this fall.
“Don’t be afraid to fail. That’s something a lot of alumni come back and say. They wish they had gained more experience and gained additional personal growth. Don’t be afraid to try different things and get out of your comfort zone,” said Barbara Roback, associate director at the Career Center for Colgate University.
During her presentation to the 46 NBT Bank summer interns, Roback urged students to find a career that could accommodate their values and skills, explaining that money wasn’t always the answer.
NBT CEO Marty Dietrich agreed, saying, “Your short term satisfaction in a company is, ‘how much are you going to pay me?’ Your long term satisfaction comes from sharing the same values as the company. The difference is doing something you want to be doing or just doing it for the paycheck.”
“If it doesn’t meet your skills, values and interests, then you’re probably going to struggle with being successful, even if you want to be,” advised Roback.
Dietrich also told the group that he never had a “grand scheme” to one day become the bank’s top executive – he just took it one step at a time.
“I never entered with the idea that I wanted to be CEO. I just focused on what I was doing and doing the best where I was. Whatever it is you end up doing, with NBT or elsewhere, do your best, give it all you’ve got and success will likely follow,” he said.
Dietrich said the ‘Career Day’ was held by NBT because the bank recognizes the value of attracting skilled and interested employees. “We’re keeping a pipeline of talent open to meet our growing needs,” he said.
NBT currently has 1,594 employees at 123 different branches, extending into three different states – New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The company continues to grow and currently has $5.5 billion in assets, a 500 percent increase from what it was ten years ago.
“We ask ourselves if we offer an environment where individuals can prosper and grow. The more you develop, the more successful you are, the better you’ll be able to care for customers,” Dietrich told the crowd.
Another speaker at the event was Regional Sales Manager Thomas Sutton, an 18-year veteran of the bank. Sutton was awarded the 2009 Volunteer of the Year Award by the Commerce Chenango and he explained the importance of the company’s involvement in the community.
After revealing that NBT donated $270,000 to groups in Chenango County in 2008, Sutton asked the crowd why a business would give away money. One intern raised his hand and said it would help improve a company’s image in the community.
Sutton laughed, saying, “True, if you give to the community you hope the community will give back to you, but I prefer to look at it the other way around. The only reason we’re here is because of our customers in the community and we’re giving back to them.”
Dietrich also noted that the bank was a customer-based competitor. He offered examples of how no matter what the bank offered financially, “lower rates or building bigger banks,” there was always another one bigger which could be even more competitive. “These kinds of strategies have their place, but they are not sustainable. We need to maintain the quality of our people and the services they can provide,” he said.
Following the CEO’s remarks, NBT announced it would be offering a brand new scholarship each year to an intern, based on their work performance and self motivation. Joshua Wales, a second-year intern in the bank’s small business department, was awarded the $2,500 scholarship.
A Norwich High School graduate is in his junior year at Binghamton University, Wales said he hoped to return to the area and work for NBT after college, where he is studying economics.