Page 53 - James Caan - The Real Deal

Chapter 6

A Career in

Recruitment (1978–1979)

‘ If you’ve got nothing to lose, it’s amazing what you can get

away with. ’

ne night while i was out I met a guy who was working
O for another recruitment agency, and he suggested I should
meet his boss. His firm was City Centre Staff Bureau, which was
a lot bigger than Premier – it had five or six branches –
and although I wasn’t looking for another job, or even really a
career in recruitment at this stage, I went for an interview out of
curiosity. I got a second interview, and, as I was by now pretty
confident, I said to the guy, ‘Look, I would be interested in joining
your firm but not unless it’s for a branch manager’s job, because
I’m not really looking to move at this stage.’ I couldn’t see what I
had to lose. I thought I might as well ask, because if he said ‘no’
I was happy to stay put. If you’ve got nothing to lose, it’s amazing
what you can get away with. He offered me the job.
I liked the idea of running my own branch, of having the keys
and opening up; it was a bit like the business was yours, so I saw

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