Let’s face it. We are going to watch a whole bunch of moves over the next couple of weeks. We will be nursing hangovers, escaping family or just enjoying some high quality couch time.
Netflix and On-Demand movies give us so many choices. How will you decide?
Here are my recommendations for great movies with a career lessons built right in. I am not saying they will cause you to edit your resume the moment you are done, but you might want to keep your laptop handy, just in case.
Working Girl – classic comedy with Melanie Griffiths, Sigourney Weaver and a very young Harrison Ford. A great story and it’s pretty neat to see all these stars when they were just starting out.
9 – 5 – dated but very funny movie about the ladies in the secretarial pool taking over the world. Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily to Tomlin round out this cast.
Mrs Doubtfire – Robin Williams shines as a divorced dad who has to take on a whole new career to be able to see his kids
Tootsie – Dustin Hoffman transforms himself into a soap opera actress ” of a certain age” to get an acting job with hysterical and unpredictable results.
Wolf of Wall Street – Leonardo de Caprio brings us the whole career of the infamous trader who won and lost a huge fortune. There are lots of lessons here.
Catch Me if You Can– an another Leo de Caprio character study. This one is interesting because the main character is a con man who takes on a dozen careers throughout the movie. A good study of how far street smarts and a little nerve will get you. (Although it’s helpful to have a broken moral compass too).
Margin Call – a young analyst played by Chris Pine learns about the ugly side of the Wall Street careers with Kevin Spacey leading an excellent cast ensemble.
Patch Adams – you will need a couple of tissues for this one but it is worth it. Robin Williams takes us through the true story of a man who rose to become a well known physician, clown and author. Enough said.
Feel free to post a comment about your favourites. I am sure there are lots more.
Happy holidays!
Recruiter's Couch 
When I read your headline my first thought was “Working Girl”. And you’ve got it number 1. Good list! How about Charlies Angels for showcasing how you can repurpose and retrain for a new job? Not to mention underscoring the value work/life balance and building strong relationships with co-workers?