I always find it interesting when Hollywood puts out a movie with interesting Life Lessons in “The Internship” and valuable life and career lessons. This is probably why I have seen The Internship, featuring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, a dozen or so times on HBO recently.
Photo Source: IMDb
These two lovable guys play traveling watch salesmen who lose their jobs and essentially have to start over. Vince Vaughn’s character, Billy, is a dreamer and is the one who gets the ball rolling on their internship at Google.
Photo Source: Pinterest
I love the spirit in which these two “older” interns tackle the internship with enthusiasm. The part where the other interns on their team tell them to go to Stanford to find Professor Xavier, that he is in a wheelchair, and that he speaks in a British accent… it is hilarious!
Photo Source: Google
This movie is a prime example of how two generations interact. The younger generation acts (1) like they know everything, and (2) like the generation before them are stupid, inexperienced, and uneducated.
Photo Source: Surf and Sunshine blog
Sometimes I have to remind myself of a couple of things: (1) that I’m as old as I am (I’m not afraid to admit it… I’m 41); and (2) that financially it’s more difficult nowadays to live on minimum wage or to work as an unpaid “older” intern.
And then I think about my 43 (soon to be 44) year old brother, Tim, who graduated from community college in May and was accepted to Texas A&M. In the span of two months, Tim and his wife, Suzanne, went to Texas, where Tim (1) attended new student orientation, (2) submitted job applications, and (3) found an apartment. They left East Tennessee on Sunday and settled into their new apartment in Texas on Tuesday. He is pursuing his dream of attending Texas A&M, a dream that he has been working on since he was 18. Now it that’s not a great example of never giving up on your dream and that it is never too late to switch gears, I don’t know what is!
But I digress… back to the real subject of this blog…
The Internship held a lot of life and career lessons, not only for the Millennial Generation, Generation Y and Generation Z, but for the Generation X (like me) and Baby Boomers (like my parents). Even though the movie bombed at the box office, I still think everyone needs to see it.
CBS News (cbsnews.com – Lessons 1-6) and Sir Vincent (sirvincent.com – Lessons 7-10) both wrote about the lessons everyone can take away from watching The Internship, and I have to agree that these are wonderful lessons!
1) Late in life internships can be worthwhile.
2) It’s never too late to switch gears.
3) The time to try new technology is now.
4) Being yourself in a job interview is a fine idea.
5) Education will only get you in the door. You also need to have a strong network, an excellent cover letter, and either an eye-catching blog or a strong presence on social media.
6) Aim to impress everyone.
7) Step out of your comfort zone.
8) Never underestimate people and never judge them especially based on their appearance.
9) Collaboration… there is no “I” in TEAM.
10) Know how to deal with people.
Whatever lessons you take from watching The Internship, I hope you never give up on pursuing your dreams.
Photo Source: Watch 23 blog
I would love to hear your thoughts on both the movie, The Internship, as well as what lessons you gleaned from the movie!
Have a great day!
