Page 138 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want
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The answer is: half a day, tops. You only need to invest half a day
             of e≠ort.


                  The jc twist 
                If I was going to an interview and had spent time creating a
                knock-out presentation, I would completely undersell it. The
                way I would describe the presentation is, ‘I don’t know if this

                is useful, but I’ve put down a few ideas on paper.’ I would be
                giving the interviewer an amazing document but presenting
                it as something that I had jotted down, because I don’t want

                them to think I’ve made a huge e≠ort. It’s a bit like going on a
                date. You don’t want to let your date know you’ve spent four
                hours getting dressed. You want to give the impression that
                you just threw something on. While you are talking through
                the presentation the interviewer will be sitting there flicking

                through the pages, picking up on the style, the content, the
                quality, the research, the writing. And thinking, ‘If this is
                something they’ve just jotted down, I’d love to see what they

                think of as a real presentation.’


             Because of my involvement with Dragons’ Den, I had to hire a

             communications manager: the profile the programme has given
             me meant I was doing more and more work with the press and
             media. It was becoming ridiculous: every day somebody was

             ringing up, asking, ‘Will you come on CNBC or CNN or the BBC?’
                My P A said to me, quite rightly, ‘James, this is not a job for me.
             I can take the messages but I can’t talk to these people, I don’t
             know what they are looking for, how to choose between them.’


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