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Movie Lessons About Going After Your Dream Job

by Adrian Johansen

There have been countless great movies about people going after their dreams. They continue to be successful because they’re inspiring. When you watch a movie about someone either overcoming the odds to get their dream job or climbing the ladder to find success, it might inspire you to do the same. If nothing else, it can show you that it’s possible.

While you can argue that movies are just fiction, many great career-based movies are based on true stories, like The Pursuit of Happyness. Even those that are strictly made for entertainment purposes can still be useful and inspiring.

So, if you’re looking for movies with career-oriented lessons, we’ve got you covered. Let’s go over some of the most important lessons from a few classics that you can take with you into the working world. Whether you use them as inspiration, motivation, or practical information, by the end of this article you’ll realize just how much movies can impact the decisions you make about your career.

Overcoming Obstacles

Some of the most inspiring movies about careers are those that feature characters overcoming great obstacles. Again, The Pursuit of Happyness is a perfect example of this, showcasing a man who was homeless at one point and who overcame the odds to become a successful stockbroker.

Other inspiring films that feature lead characters fighting against obstacles to reach their career dreams include:

Legally Blonde
Moneyball
Chef
Working Girl
Erin Brokovich

These are films that can motivate your career goals and make you realize that whether they were meant to be funny, moving, or inspirational, there is something relatable about all of them. You can look at these movies and compare them to some of today’s real-world issues, including things like the gender gap. So many industries are still dominated by men. The tech industry, for example, is almost 75% men. The unfortunate thing about gender bias is that it has progressed slowly over the years. You can look at the film Hidden Figures to drive that point home. The movie is set in 1962 and shows the lack of presence and credit that women of color received at the time.

Unfortunately, today, some of those gender and race biases are still blatantly present, so it’s important to find inspiration to overcome obstacles whenever and wherever you can.

Standing Out From the Crowd

Another common theme in career-oriented movies is characters trying to stand out to get ahead in their careers. A perfect example of this is The Wolf of Wall Street. While we wouldn’t exactly recommend Jordan Belfort’s tactics to get ahead, it is a good way to showcase what not to do, but how far some people are willing to go to find success.

A better example of a movie that shows how to stand out is The Devil Wears Prada. It’s a wonder how the main character, Andy, even landed a job at a high-profile fashion magazine. She didn’t exactly have industry experience. But she could have done what you can and impressed her new employers with a great looking resume full of details.

Throughout the film, Andy goes from being clueless about the industry and a relative “nobody” to losing her own identity halfway through. Eventually, though, the movie shows that she can use her existing skills, her true personality, and her drive to stand out within the industry, and even stand out to her boss. It’s a movie with a few bumps along the way, but an inspirational story about how you can be yourself and grow, all at once.

Letting Others Support You

Some of the best career movies feature fantastic supporting characters and ensembles. Films like The Social Network show how involved other people might be in going after your dream job. While the film might be an exaggeration of real-world events, Mark Zuckerberg didn’t get Facebook where it is today on his own. He started it with a college friend, had people help him with ideas along the way, and even partnered up with other businesses and platforms to grow the social network even more. Again, not all of the tactics used in the movie were necessarily on the “up and up.” Zuckerberg found himself in trouble with some of those individuals on more than one occasion. But, in the beginning, starting Facebook was all about dreaming up big concepts and working with his friends to do it.

Another great example of group brainstorming techniques like rapid ideation in action is Office Space. While the movie is a cult classic comedy, the heart of it shows how a team can work together to demand more from their work environment. That theme is nothing new, and it can also be found in movies like:

9 to 5
Dodgeball
The Internship
Up in the Air

Life imitates art, and careers are a part of life. So, it’s no surprise that movies about going after a dream job are still popular and still inspire people every day. If you need to be reminded of a few of these lessons, check out some of these films, and let them motivate you to go after your own dream.