An Interview with Jason Cane
What was your dream job growing up?
“Growing up I was always into sciences, but I wasn’t sure which direction to go. I think the road for me was always to do something that was a bit technical but creative and I had always quite fancied computer design. It was a little bit before web design was around, but I did a lot of programming in my own time when I was younger, and I thought that was what I was going to go into. And partly I did later on, but not immediately. I did actually get a job in computer sales and I was the manager of an independent computer shop which was part of a chain of three. And we won the best independent computer store in the country. We had a dinner event to go to where we were presented with an award which was quite an adventure.”
What was your first job in recruitment and how did you get into it?
“So, I was managing the computer shop in computer sales and that was a job that had repeat customers, relationship building, technical knowledge, it was about knowing your client, knowing your product, all those sorts of things. But I wanted to do something different and a bit closer to home. So accidentally, I got into recruitment as I was looking for a local position that would use the same set of skills and I ended up joining a local recruitment company and that’s where I learnt the grounding for the recruitment industry.”
What is it you enjoy most about recruitment?
“Sometimes it’s not necessarily the obvious job choice that the person has thought for themselves. It’s about getting to know that person and understanding what it is that’s really important to them and then perhaps coming up with something that maybe they haven’t considered before which actually fits their life, their dreams, and their goals in a better way. Sometimes they aren’t always sure what they want next so it’s about providing that guidance and support to get them to a position where they are far happier than where they have been or whatever it might be; career aspirations, earnings, work life balance.”
What would you consider to be the highlight of your career?
“When we decided to work together (with Alyson Cane). That was the highlight when we decided to make the decision as our career in recruitment took off”. See ‘An Interview with Alyson Cane‘ to learn how and when Team Cane was created
How do you feel candidates benefit from working with Premier Jobs UK?
“Giving them guidance. We provide honest support in terms of helping them and sometimes that might mean not telling them what they want to hear but being realistic with their expectations.”
How do you feel clients benefit from working with Premier Jobs UK?
“We use our industry knowledge and experience to get that bit extra to provide that information to the client. Also, I think it’s a mixture of having that ongoing relationship with our clients which enables us to get better at helping that client.”
If your colleagues were to describe you in 3 words, what would they say?
“Professional, energetic and focused.”
Currently, what is your biggest challenge?
“Up until recently, it has been dealing with Brexit and the confusion about what’s happening. People not being sure whether they want to move however following the election, there seems to be a lot more confidence in the market. Self-employed vs employed is another challenge. Convincing people to go self-employed if they’ve got an employed mentality, that’s always a challenge however more and more people are having that leap of faith to go self-employed and reaping the rewards as a result.”
What is your proudest moment in recruitment?
“That’s a joint one for both of us. We were working together, and I think it was around 2007/08 and we were working with the banks quite heavily at this point. Alyson and I as a joint team were the top introducers for Barclays and NatWest for Mortgage Advisers nationally. First year was Barclays and the 2nd year was NatWest. They had a number of different agencies and recruiters and we topped the lot in terms of numbers of people taken on.”
What is your signature dish?
“Veggie pasta bake.”
What is your go to song on the karaoke machine?
“Well we’re not really karaoke people. However, we do love dancing. More recently, we have been doing ball room, Latin and anything like that really. So, if we were to pick our favourite dance, it would be the Cha-cha.
Do you have any tips to stay focused?
“It’s about breaking up the day and finding a balance between working hard and taking a break. You have to be reactive to the day, sometimes you will get in and all you do is work all day but sometimes we find that over the period of a week you need to have some down time. We like to get some fitness in and work out 3 times a week. Another thing is setting yourself up for what you’re going to do that day and then reviewing it at the end of the day to see if you achieved it. And that way you can self-monitor and see where you might need to readjust that focus. It’s about making sure at the end of the day everything is done and completed so that you can get that real satisfaction of achieving that day’s work so that you can start the next day as a fresh.”
