What Can We Learn From Famous Pop Culture Interviews?

The best way to learn about how to become a great interviewer is to practice interviewing. The next best way is to learn from other great interviewers within your organization. The third best way?

Learn from the famous pop culture interviews we all know and love. 

We’re going to examine four of our favorite interviews from movies and television series: Step Brothers, Devil Wears Prada, Friends, and The Internship and determine what we can take away from the interviews. 

Fun fact: The Pillar team reenacted all of these interviews last year. Be sure to press “play” on all of the videos embedded throughout this post.

Step Brothers

Dale and Brennan ultimately teach us what NOT to do in an interview, and more so on the interviewee side vs. the interviewer. Here’s just a few (because there’s a lot) of the unacceptable behaviors Dale and Brennan exhibit in their interviews that interviewers should look out for:

• Know your interviewer's name (are you saying Pan or Pam?!) 
• Never tell your interviewer to shut their mouth 
• Don’t wear a tuxedo for a job that requires you to clean bathrooms…or you will get made fun of 
• Asking for a souvenir from the interviewer’s office will get you kicked out 
• Use the washroom facilities before your interview (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what we mean here) 

The moral of the story here is that bringing the best people into your organization is imperative for company growth and success. Focus on hiring less Dale and Brennan’s and more on candidates that are the best for the role at hand. 

Devil Wears Prada

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To put it lightly, Miranda Priestly is an extremely intimidating interviewer, and her icy personality doesn’t make it any better! Miranda provides a terrible candidate experience for Andy, which is the exact opposite of what you want to do to attract top talent. Here’s a few things she does wrong: 

• Don’t read a magazine while interviewing someone 
• Don’t comment on your interviewee’s fashion sense (even if you work at the top fashion magazine in the country)
• Ask valuable questions that will determine if a candidate is the right fit for the role (check out 200+ here) 
• Don’t dismiss your interviewee so quickly and be sure to ask if they have any follow-up questions of their own 

Wondering what you need to execute better interviews? Take a look at our ultimate interview checklist for hiring teams. 

Friends‍‍

There’s one major takeaway from Chandler’s interview in this episode from Friends, and it’s a warning for interviewers. Always be sure to note what questions the interviewee asks at the end of the interview. Why? Because it shows that the interviewer is prepared and is genuinely interested in the role, especially if they need clarity on the role itself.

And definitely watch out for interviewers that think “duties” means “poo”. 😂
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The Internship

The world has shifted over the past few years, and it’s certainly shifted when it comes to hiring. Organizations are hiring virtually now more than they ever have before. Billy and Nick’s interview with Google showcases the importance of preparing for interviews. Interviewers…it’s a red flag if the candidate hasn’t prepped for their interview…this means knowing what role they’re hiring for, testing out their webcam, etc. Also, look out for a few other lessons learned during Billy and Nick’s interview… 

• Interviewers who constantly interrupt, especially during a panel interview 
• Hire people who go from selling blenders to saving lives - ha! But really, watch out for over-exaggerators, especially with sales roles. 
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Which one of these interviews is your favorite? Or did we miss any? Drop us a line here!