Page 140 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

more recruitment consultants and expand. The problem was that
they were having real difficulty finding good staff.
In the car on my way back to the office I was thinking it was odd
that Alexander Mann wasn’t having the same problem as the rest
of the industry, and I realised it was probably because Alexander
Mann recruited salespeople: when good people came in to see us
about another opportunity, we could say, ‘Have you thought about
recruitment?’ But an agency that specialised in legal or account-
ancy work only attracted lawyers or accountants for interviews. So
the only way they could hire salespeople who would make good
recruitment consultants was to advertise. But everyone else was
doing that, and in a buoyant market it was hard to get good
people. So I went to talk to one of my managers with an idea.
‘Why don’t we set up a division that supplies recruitment
consultants to recruitment companies?’
He looked at me as if I’d gone mad.
‘James, how whacky can you be? Which recruitment agency is
going to pay you a fee to do what they’re supposed to be good at
themselves? Forget it.’
He had a point. But so did I. ‘Just think about it – if you’re an
accountancy recruitment agency, why are you any different from
any other client that comes to us because they can’t find the right
people? They’re in exactly the same position as every other client,
which means they have to run ads, which is exactly what we tell
our clients not to do because our skills get better results.’
He wasn’t looking convinced, so I carried on. ‘Listen; think of
Alexander Mann as specialists in hiring good people, the best
people. It’s what we’re known for in the industry, so why don’t
we hire for other recruitment agencies?’
‘You’re being daft. Hiring us would be like admitting they were
bad at what they do. James, it just won’t happen. Forget it.’
I talked to a few others in the office and I couldn’t convince
anybody that we should try it.

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