Let's establish up front that Billy and Nick, the two 40ish, out-of-work salesmen played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the new movie The Internship, are unlikely to land a coveted summer spot at Google. But in Hollywood, the place where Cameron Diaz can be an orthopedic surgeon (in There's Something About Mary), anything is possible. So let's suspend disbelief (and put aside the question of whether or not it's funny) and consider what the movie gets right about midcareer internships.
College internships are well established, but the strategy of opening up internship programs to non-traditional candidates is gaining currency. It provides a cost effective and low-risk way to engage with mid-career professionals seeking to return to work. (I wrote about this trend in the November 2012 issue of HBR.) Sometimes, as in The Internship, the non-traditional candidate turns out to be the best choice.
To read the full, original article click on this link: What "The Internship" Gets Right (and Wrong) about Mid-Career Internships - Carol Fishman Cohen - Harvard Business Review
