Top 10 movies for recruiters and HR managers

Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Jordan Belfort - is a young broker. A​​fter a collapse of an investment bank in which he was working, Jordan set out to work in a small brokerage firm. He quickly adapts and impresses his colleagues with a dexterous grip and a gift for persuasion.

Soon, Jordan starts his own brokerage company that rapidly becomes one of the most successful companies on Wall Street. The film is based on the book "The Wolf of Wall Street" written by Jordan Belfort, a motivational speaker and broker in the past.

“Wolf of Wall Street” highlights the importance of a company's atmosphere and culture in employees’ motivation. It represents that with the right team it is possible to share victories, as well as, defeats. Although the main character took it to the extreme, combining grand parties and bad habits, no one is going to argue that Belfort has created an atmosphere of competition and energy. The key to his success? Belfort is a great motivator!

The Intern (2015)

This movie will be helpful for those who are interested in personnel adaptation. “The Intern” highlights pros and cons of employees from different generations. Also, it shows the difficulties of personnel integration in the firms' corporate culture and how to overcome them :).

Ben Whittaker is a 70ty year-old retired man. After the death of his wife, Ben experiences intense melancholy and decides to get a job to make his suffering less intense. By coincidence, the main character gets a job in a company that is located in the building where Ben has worked during all his life. However, now a company that sells women's clothing online, instead of a printing house is located there. All employees of the company are young, progressive and skeptical of the elderly intern. How will Ben Whittaker's fate be in his new job? Let’s see!

The Internship (2013)

Billy McMahon and Nick Campbell are the best friends. They are both well over 30. All their life they have been working as sales agents, but technological progress ruined their career. Now all is selling online! By chance, the main characters get an internship at the well-known technology company - Google.

At work, they are surrounded by millennials that cannot imagine their lives without smartphones and tablets.

In order to successfully complete the internship, Bill and Nick have to form their own team and conclude an agreement for IT support with a real organization. Do they cope with this?

The film demonstrates an importance of keeping abreast of the rapidly-changing world in order to be a successful businessman. Whether it's technology, hiring techniques, economic change, or a custom team!

Also, “The Internship” shows tactics of creating a strong team around you, even if you are a “black sheep”.

Additional bonus is an opportunity to penetrate the corporate culture of Google and learn the hiring techniques of the famous corporation!

Headhunter (2009)

Martin Vinge is a successful headhunter. His main task is to recruit top managers for large corporations. This often happens through enticing specialists from other firms, accompanied by long negotiations.
Martin receives an order from 85-year-old Mr. Sieger - a president of a Scandinavian ship concern. He needs a successor, as he does not want to transfer his company to own son after retirement.

Martin takes this order and starts searching. The longer the main character works on the order, the more he realizes that everything is not as simple as it seemed at first glance. Current management team has already decided on who will be the next president of the firm. Involuntarily Martine Winge becomes a victim of the intrigues of big businessmen...

This motion picture demonstrates strategies of top management recruitment. The movie is full of unique dialogues and phrases that will be helpful for HRs. Here you can look at reactions, arguments and questions necessary during a process of looking for talented employees.

Jerry Maguire, 1996 г

Jerry is a glossy 35-year-old sport agent that works for a big international organization. However, one life event forces him to reconsider his approach to work.

Now, Maguire wants to be honest and think about his customers rather than the interests of the company. Afterwards, he was fired and decided to start his own firm. Only a couple of people believe in him. But the main thing is that he believes in himself! The protagonist faces a lot of difficulties, however his tenacity and gift of persuasion helps him to form a strong and successful team.

This movie highlights the methods of building trusting relationships with people around. This is the essential quality of a successful recruiter!

Also, it is an excellent guide for a HR specialist at the start of his/her career, as Jerry is an example of motivation. A purposeful, strong-minded person who proves that doing business ethically can be real!

The Recruit (2003)

James Clayton is a talented programmer that is studying nonlinear cryptography in university. His father went missing around 10 years ago. Once, James meets a CIA recruiter - Walter Burke - at a bar. Walter offers to give information about the disappearance of James’ father in exchange for his admission to the CIA training camp.

The main character goes through training successfully and becomes an agent. He was entrusted with a responsible task: to calculate the "mole".

Preparing young professionals for the CIA provides a clear understanding of how to form a team of dedicated employees who will stay with you no matter what.

Up in the Air (2009)

The film is set during the 2008 economic crisis. Organizations massively reduce the amount of personnel, and do not cope properly with such volumes on their own. The main responsibility of a protagonist - Ryan Bingham - is to inform employees about dismissal.

Ryan is a professional at his job. He expertly conducts interviews with employees of different companies, informs them about the layoff, takes the first blow of aggression, despair and tears on himself and expresses sympathy.

Ryan is delighted with his work. He enjoys travelling all around the US and spending 300 days a year on business trips. One day, Ryan's young colleague finds a new way to conduct interviews - remotely. Now the main character does not need to travel around the country. A new world opens up for him with completely different values​​…

The film will show you the life of a person with an interesting profession.

Also, firing employees is an integral part of the work of hr-specialists. Ryan’s skills of a psychologist and an excellent speaker will help you pump the skill employees release!

Furthermore, “Up in the Air” will give you the opportunity to reconsider the approach to your life, look at the world through the prism of feelings and relationships, rather than material goods, and, possibly, discover new values to yourself.

The Social Network (2010)

The plot of the film is based on the book by Ben Mezrich "Reluctant Billionaires: How Facebook was Created, a Story of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal". It tells the story of the creation of the famous social network - Facebook. Once you start watching this movie, you will not be able to stop it!

Harvard Student - Mark Zuckerberg - wants to prove his uniqueness and achieve recognition after breaking up with his girlfriend.

During one night Mark creates an attractiveness assessment platform that is aimed to evaluate girls from Harvard University. After his development, Mark has been invited to be a programmer who develops a social network for Harvard students.

Facebook has been launched.

But what is the merit of Mark Zuckerberg in this? “The Social Network” shows to young recruiters that experience is not the main criterion for a person's success. Look at talent and dedication.

The film’s plot is a life-affirming, motivating story that shows that through perseverance and self-realization you can achieve impressive results even in the most unpredictable situations.

Moneyball (2011)

The movie is based on the true story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. After another defeat at the championship, the team's funding was cut. Soon, all the good players from Oakland Athletic are bought by opposing teams.

Billy Beane is a sports manager of the team. His task is to lead the team to the leaders in the next championship. Billy’s rational thinking helps him, along with his friend economist, to change tactics.

They buy three "budget" players, instead of one well-known, focusing on their personal indicators. Will their tactics bring the team a success in the next season?

Billy, like an experienced HR, selects versatile players and uses their personal qualities to achieve the set task.

So you, as an experienced HR or a novice recruiter, correctly identifying strengths and weaknesses of an applicant, help him to realize him/herself in the profession. The same approach will help you with promotions and staff transfers to increase efficiency and build a coherent, powerful team!

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Chris Gardner is a sales agent. He can barely make ends meet. His wife leaves Chris in search of a better life and leaves him with a 5-year-old son. Soon Chris and his son are evicted from the apartment for inability to pay the rent and they remain on the street.

Gardner's biggest dream is to make his son happy. To make this happen he takes a half-year, unpaid internship at a brokerage company. The competition is very high. In addition, Chris has limited time options as he has to queue up at the Methodist Shelter at 5:00 pm every day to get a free overnight stay.

Will Chris Gardner succeed in his internship and ensure a happy future for his son?
Throughout the film, Chris works to improve his productivity and this brings him success. This confirms that career success is measured by time efficiency, not the amount of time.
Also, this movie is a source of inspiration and motivation. Chris shows that it is possible to get out of even the most difficult situations.

What unites all the main characters of these diverse films? They can hear and listen to people, understand and motivate them. Want to be like them? Want to learn how to ask questions correctly? Enroll in our new course “How to ask questions”.

This was our Top 10 of the best movies for HR specialists. We hope it was useful for you. Share it on social networks with your professional friends, leave comments and recommend your favorite movies.