Page 19 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

what it contributes to the firm. You are going to cost your
employer a salary, National Insurance contributions, running
costs. You, the employee, need to know what your cost is.
If you are on £30,000 a year, plus National Insurance of 12.8
per cent, that immediately puts you up to a basic cost of £33,840.

On top of that you need to add in the cost of your desk and chair,
the cost of your phone, your computer licences, your proportion
of the rental rates, heating, lighting. All these ancillary costs

caused by you sitting in an o≤ce are going to total a minimum
of roughly £1,000 a month, and however you work the numbers
out, the average is between £1,000 and £2,500 per month per
person as an on-cost to salary.
So, whatever your salary is, you can add £12,000–£30,000 on

top of the basic figure. And if you calculate the overall cost per
year of your role in the company, will you be able to justify that
cost? What can you do to prove that you are worth it? What can

you do to make the person you want to hire you feel that, in the
current market, this is a cost he or she is prepared to absorb?
And if you don’t know the answer, then why don’t you ask
the question? Ask the employer the question. Imagine you are
sitting in front of me, and at the end of the interview I ask you,
‘Have you got any questions you’d like to ask?’ You say: ‘in this
role, James, how could i make a contribution to your
company?’

What a great question.
Being able to quantify that contribution depends on the kind
of job you want. In every job there is an output. It is a matter of
determining what that output is. In every role there should be a

7 positivity