Would You Consider An Internship In Your Mid-30s?
by Neha Ruch
We've talked before about motherhood being not so different for me as getting my MBA - the privilege of a pause to surround myself with new experiences - in this case, raising a child - and smart women, and to think about what comes next. One of the things that comes up a lot in deep chats with other mothers who have shifted work priorities for parenting, is that when they refocus or return to work they want it to be for something that counts beyond income.
Of the conversations I've had with other women who are working part-time, for themselves or staying at home fully for this chapter, there are a bunch who are noodling on small businesses (or big businesses) they want to start, a few are considering studying again and some are talking about total eventual career changes. Those are the friends I find especially unique to our generation. I find the women today special in that we have the confidence in our capacity and experience that we're increasingly more confident in pausing and parting with linear paths and continuing our story with something new - even if in some cases it means a step back in the career hierarchy.
With that in mind, I bookmarked a recent post by one of my favorite female bloggers. She spoke to several women about navigating career change and one in particular (Cheryl) talked about being a 37 year old nurse with two toddlers and telling her husband she was applying for an unpaid internship. She always wanted to write so she wrote a hilarious application to a popular website, got comfortable with bosses that were ten years junior to her and eventually found her niche there with no prior journalist experience.
While I was reading her excerpts in the piece, I was beaming thinking about how awesome this woman was and then found myself wondering if I could be so self-secure to be doing coffee runs again. Do they still make interns do that?
What do you think? Would you be up for taking an unpaid or junior role to learn something new? Its definitely a creative foot in the door and I'm pretty sure Cheryl is probably now running the show. Go her. xo
Featured Image via Anne Hathaway on the set of The Intern (June 2014)
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