Page 88 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

More often than not – surprise, surprise – those who do
their research end up walking away with an investment. Each
entrepreneur has no more than twenty minutes to persuade
us to make a decision in their favour. The decision we make is
based on the confidence we pick up on. If you can stand there,

hold your ground, know your numbers, and communicate that
information to us articulately and convincingly, you stand a
very good chance of securing an investment.

The equivalent of this in the job market is not so much
knowing your direct competitors, the other applicants – it’s
more than likely you will never know who the other applicants
are and, in any case, you should go into the interview believ-
ing you are the right person for the job – but you must have

done your research on the company you are applying to work
for, just as though they were a business competitor. This
time the goal is not an investment to move your business
on, but the chance to land the job you really want. With that
golden incentive, why would you not bother doing the
research?

Coming at the same question from a related angle, when
I was first asked to go on Dragons’ Den, what do you suppose

was the very first thing I did when the production team
approached me? I asked them to send me a set of DVDs with
the last ten episodes of the show. To me that was the natural

thing to do. I thought to myself, ‘I have never done any tele-
vision. I’m not part of that world, and I know nothing about it.
In order for me to even understand what it is I am supposed to
be doing, I should watch and learn.’

76 get the job you really want