Page 129 - James Caan - The Real Deal

12 · Growing the Business

‘I should explain. I’m an expert in this industry and I make it
my business to know. When can we have a chat?’
I would then go and meet the client to take the brief about
exactly that they wanted. Again, my willingness to ask more
questions than anyone else could be bothered to allowed me to
tailor my service to their needs. At first they’d tell me about the
vacancy and the skills required.
‘That’s really helpful. Now, if I sent you somebody, what sort
of person would I have to send for you to hire him on the spot?
What attributes would he have to have?’
They’d illustrate their dream candidate, itemising with qualifica-
tions, attributes and experience. Most agencies would take a brief
in thirty minutes. I’d take three hours.
‘What sort of package do you think your dream candidate is on
at the moment? Where’s he working now?’
Again, everything I wanted to know was in someone else’s head
and all I had to do was ask.
He’s probably on this salary, with this car, and that bonus at
that company, they’d tell me.
I’d always want to know what age range they were interested in
because I didn’t want to waste my time finding someone who was
too old or too young. People were often reluctant to give me an
age, so I asked something like: ‘What sort of age were the last three
people in this job?’
‘And were they all graduates?’
‘Actually the one before last wasn’t.’
‘So you would look at candidates who weren’t graduates?’
I’d now widened the brief to include non-graduates.
‘And tell me, what are you looking to pay for this position?’
‘£80k a year.’
‘Just out of curiosity, if I found you someone who was
spectacular, who had exactly the experience you wanted, but he
cost £100k, would you turn him down?’

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