Have you heard of the 40-Year-Old Intern? Or the 50-Year-Old Intern? These are people returning to the workforce after a career break for child care, elder care, or other personal reasons by taking an internship like you might have had out of college or graduate school.
Professional mid-career internships operate on the same principle as any other internship: they provide employees the opportunity to be evaluated on an actual work sample instead of a series of interviews by an employer that might want to hire them. Part work, part training, and part exposure to a company culture to see if there is a match, professional internship programs are short-term, non-binding work arrangements that provide a testing period. For employers or hiring managers that view hiring from the return-to-work pool as a riskier proposition, this trial period lowers the perceived risk.
