How to Be Successful at Work

I’m in the process of starting a new job, and throughout this intense transitional period, I found myself in need of advice. So naturally, I turned to the movies. What lessons can I  learn about starting a new job from the protagonists of some great movies who have been through the experience? Well let’s see, shall we?

Seize every opportunity. Working Girl (1988)
It’s tough for a hard-working local girl to get noticed in today’s cutthroat business world. Melanie Griffith, however, knows an opportunity when she sees one and isn’t afraid to seize it. Even if that opportunity is to pretend that you’re the boss instead of the secretary, while your boss Sigourney Weaver is laid up with a broken leg after a skiing accident. Sure it’s not totally above board – Melanie is wearing Sigourney’s clothes, raiding her files, stealing her boyfriend/big business deal, etc. – but Sigourney is a real back-stabbing, two-faced power monster and in addition to her prowess at lying, Melanie also has razor-sharp executive instincts and ingenuity to back her up. Plus a really expensive makeover. She can’t lose!

Find a healthy way to cope with stress. The Departed (2006)
Granted, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan starts a very stressful job in this film as an undercover Boston cop infiltrating Jack Nicholson’s gang of ruthless thugs. He has to go to prison, gets his hand smashed, shoots a lot of people, and is super lonely living in a really depressing apartment – all to maintain his secret identity.. Even with all that to deal with, LDC, narcotics are not the answer! Maybe if Billy had set aside time for regular exercise or yoga or something instead of drowning himself in valium, he would’ve seen that sucker shot at the end of the movie coming.

Avoid workplace romance. Adventureland (2009)
After starting his new job as a theme park game operator, Jesse Eisenberg does not heed this advice and really gets himself in a pickle! He mega-digs Em (Kristen Stewart), who is cool and moody and totally punk rock. They’re making out and swimming and stuff and it’s pretty cool, but little does he know that Em is regularly doing it with the theme park maintenance guy, Ryan Reynolds! Mysteriously, Em asks Jesse if they can cool it – and just then, Lisa P, the tantalizing rides operator who really knows how to wear a t-shirt, asks Jesse out on a date – and how is he going to say no? She’s Lisa P! So they go on a date and Jesse feels Lisa P’s boob, which is when he realizes that Em is his true love just before he finds out about the Ryan Reynolds affair, news that he shares with Lisa P, who tells everyone – and then Em gets fired and totally blames Jesse! Boy was she mad. If only Jesse would’ve avoided workplace romance – he could’ve had a nice summer job conning working people out of their hard-earned dollars by convincing them to play impossible-to-win carnival games. If ONLY.

Have fun with it. Big (1988)
When 11-year-old-in-a-30-year-old’s-body Josh Baskid (Tom Hanks) starts a new job at a toy company, his natural focus on fun really gives him an edge over the super-serious, profit-obsessed execs he works with. He prioritizes fun over everything else and this earns him a promotion, an adult girlfriend, a sparkly tuxedo, and the coolest apartment ever (trampoline AND pinball machine!). So stay loose and have fun with it, all you serious-pantses.

Stay true to yourself. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Work isn’t life. But it feels like it is while you’re there, right? Anne Hathaway’s Andie is smart, ambitious, and starry eyed when she joins Runway magazine (a thinly-veiled Vogue parody) as the boss lady’s 2nd assistant – a stepping stone to a career in journalism. Unfortunately she gets caught up in the pursuit of becoming the best 2nd assistant in the history of 2nd assistants – and is willing to do anything and sacrifice everything that matters to her to do it. I was slow to warm up enough to this movie even to watch it, but once I did, I was totally sucked in.  Annie’s struggle is so familiar to me AND this film is set in the fun spectacle of the NYC fashion world (pretty things!). Thankfully, Andie decides in the end that she won’t give up her integrity for her ambition, and we all are reminded that if you stay true and remember who you are at your core, in the end you’ll be ok, no matter what happens at work.

Any other good new job movies – and lessons learned from them – that you can think of? Leave them in the comments!

– betsy midnight