Page 220 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

Always learn from your mistakes. If a job interview
27 doesn’t work out, go back to the company and find out
the reason why, so you can draw something from the
experience and improve your performance next time

you apply for a job.

When you are offered a job, step back to take a calm,
28 collected view of what is on offer – and it still is only
an offer – before negotiating a deal that is fair for both

parties. Seek professional advice if necessary.

Take care when you are choosing who to provide as
29 your referees, and be courteous enough to tell them

in advance that they may get a call from your potential
employer: you don’t want any surprises at the final
hurdle.

During the first days, weeks and months after starting

30 the job you really want, you’re still on trial. Hit the deck
running: listen, learn and contribute. You’ll make the
person who appointed you look great, and you’ll feel

great too.

Now when you look at each element of the process, none of it
is rocket science. It’s all common sense. But there is a lot that

can go wrong. It is the detail, the minutiae, that makes the
di≠erence. And it really is astonishing how few people can be
bothered to make the di≠erence. I think that ego often gets in

the way. People believe they are instinctively brilliant at selling

208 get the job you really want