Page 141 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

And never forgetting …

Finally, remember the closing question you know will be asked:
‘Have you got any questions?’

I always, always ask that question towards the end of the
interview. So do the vast majority of employers. Seventy per
cent of candidates are either going to say, ‘No, I’m fine, thank

you,’ or come up with a couple of very woolly questions because
they have not done their research thoroughly enough. On a scale
of 1 to 10, I would say the average question I get asked scores no
more than a 5.
If you say, ‘Actually, there are a couple of questions, James, if

you have two minutes. Recently you launched this new product,
how’s it going?’ immediately I’m impressed – a) how did you
know? and b) I have to justify the answer to you.

‘Well, we launched it three months ago, but it hasn’t done as
well as we hoped yet,’ or whatever the case is.
At that point the quality of your question has a bigger
impact than you might think on my decision to hire you or not.
The way you decide to respond tells me a lot about you. You

know I am going to ask you – so make sure you have something
ready to fire back at me.
I hope by now you have realized that so much of success in

getting a job is down to preparation and rehearsal. So, when
you step through that door and on to the interview ‘stage’,
I want you to be in as good a shape as you’ll ever be.
Go on, knock ’em dead.