Page 154 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

recommendation is to be as crazy as you like, because you’re not
being tested on technical substance. You can make the whole
thing up. It doesn’t matter. The thrust of the exercise is: how do
you think when you are in a sales position? And the whole objec-
tive of the exercise is for the candidate to understand what the

interviewer is looking for by asking them the right question.
We were interviewing somebody for a financial position,
and I asked him as part of the discussion, ‘What’s 17.5 per cent

of 28,500?’ He couldn’t answer – he just sat there, looking blank.
Because he immediately assumed that he was not allowed to use
a calculator. Now I hadn’t said he couldn’t use a calculator. I just
asked the question.
He could have asked for a calculator. But that would not have

impressed me. What would have impressed me was if he’d had
the wit to use the calculator on his mobile phone. In the real
world, if he had had to answer the same question, he could have

just done that. Ideally he would have used pen and paper, but an
acceptable response would be to use the phone. The least accept-
able response would have been to ask for a calculator. If you ask
me for a calculator, then I am back in control, because I can say
no. it is not about what, it’s about how. How do you deal

with the issue?
If you go back to the ashtray or the mobile phone exercise, you
could throw it right back to me. ‘What are you looking for that

would convince you to make a decision today? What are the key
features that are important to you?’ The minute you ask those
questions, I am going to start feeding you the lines, and I’ve done
the job for you.

142 get the job you really want