Page 89 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

And I did. I spent one entire weekend watching all the
episodes back to back. The result: when I went along to do my
trial rehearsal, I found it was not that di≤cult – or certainly far
less di≤cult than I might have imagined – simply because I had
watched ten hours of the show. I knew exactly what the format

was. I knew exactly what kind of questions the Dragons asked.
I understood what the dynamics between the other Dragons
were. It had become pretty obvious, because I had carried out

the right preparation, the right research.
When I was in the recruitment business, way before
Dragons’ Den, I was frequently astonished by how little prepa-
ration applicants had undertaken before an interview for a
job. They had only the skimpiest knowledge of a company’s

background and had certainly never thought to check up on
recent developments within the field.

Preparation, preparation, preparation

I cannot emphasize enough how important a factor serious
preparation and research is in getting the job you want. It is

the passport to bigger and better things. You would think it
was an obvious thing to do before any interview, but, as with
so many aspects of this process, a remarkably high number of

candidates, even at a very senior level, fail to do it.
How many finance directors go for an interview and before-
hand do a search on the company and pull out their accounts?
Hardly any. Over the years I have interviewed many dozens,

77 preparation