Location Executives The Career Crashers

I think not having a proper job is soul destroying really.

I feel that I'm letting my children down by not having a career.

When you're a graduate, you're supposed to have a job straight away.

Jobseekers is not the greatest.

Like what more can I do? Just I want somebody to give me a job, like.

Meet Kirsty, Ben, Sacha and Chris.

Like so many young people, they've been struggling to get a job.

This is my CV, not a lot on there.

That was about to change.

It's like a fantasy, something you'd see in a film.

Does anyone want to share a bath with me?

They took part in an extraordinary TV experiment

that would transform their lives forever.

This is the end of my career, I think.

This is their full story. They experienced an apprenticeship of a lifetime,

a 40-year career in just one week.

This is like scary.

Bacon on burger.

-From dogsbody...

-I don't want urine in my face.

Maybe I should just go back to university.

-..to shop managers...

-I'm your new manager.

-Hi!

-I don't know what I'm doing at all.

-Errrr!

-..location executives...

-Speaky Anglais?

I'm no negotiator. We can get up to 25%. THEY LAUGH

..to finally MDs of Britain's biggest brands.

For the next three days, you'll be me.

This is the most important thing I've done.

She's on her own, she's got to do it.

You could see this come to life across 360 restaurants.

-As you know...

-..it's the biggest colour.

Half a million pounds worth of business.

How did they handle a career in fast forward?

-I'm sweating already.

-I would say no to you.

-Massive room for improvement.

-This is not a game show,

this is not a joke, I'm not doing this so I can look cool.

And did it help them achieve their ultimate goal...

-I'm going to make a twat out of myself.

-Er!

I care a lot about this.

..to get a real job.

I've got to buck up my ideas, I suppose.

Do I get fired for this?

Last time, they slopped out, and sold soap

as our recruits went from entry level work

to managing their own high street stores.

Ben has got it in him to be a good manager.

I think what he needs is more self-confidence.

# ..back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth.

And while some cracked under pressure,

others thrived.

Arm, please.

I'm just a natural,

touching people up.

Some didn't find the experience all that funny.

HE PLAYS TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR ON THE BELLS

There we go. How do you feel about it?

Pretty upset actually.

I'm trying, it's not coming through quick enough.

Sometimes, what their employers told them was hard to take.

Some guests found you quite abrupt.

Er...

Sorry, I can't even take that, that was fucking well rude. Fuck!

I got pregnant at 16 and lost all my friends.

You know, I get one chance to make it right and if I mess up then,

you know, I have ASBO children.

But now, the fast forward careers

-of our four recruits are about to get an upgrade.

-Wow!

I feel a bit common standing around here.

They'll be working for one of the world's most exclusive wedding planners.

I'm James Lord and I run an upmarket wedding planning service,

primarily for weddings abroad. The average budget that we normally deal with is about £100,000.

Good morning, I'm James, James Lord.

We organise about 30 weddings every single year.

Our couples spend four times the national average,

with several weddings into six figures

and maybe some into seven figures. Over the next two days,

I'd like you to go and see three venues each.

You will negotiate the best deal possible.

Kirsty, you'll be flying to Spain to negotiate with venues in Andalucia.

Sacha, you'll be flying to Italy

to negotiate venues on Lake Garda.

Hee hee!

-Chris, you'll be flying to France to negotiate venues on the Cote D'Azur.

-Oh, wow!

-And Ben, you'll be flying to Switzerland to negotiate with venues in Geneva.

-Wow!

-I'm so excited.

-SACHA SNORTS, THEY ALL LAUGH

This is not fun, this is not a holiday, it's work.

You're representing me and my company.

In 48 hours, each recruit must return to the UK

with a perfect five star wedding package to pitch to James.

They'll be visiting exclusive venues,

and, as preparation, he's giving them a crash course in what to look for.

Just because it says five star above the door, it doesn't mean it is five star.

A grand entrance is very important.

When negotiating with their venues, James will expect our recruits

to secure an absolute minimum of 10% in commission.

I'm looking for a location executive, who will go to three venues in each location.

The ability to negotiate a good rate of commission is absolutely vital.

Once they've secured their venue,

our recruits have to look locally for an extra special something to create the unique wedding package.

On the second day, your time is your own.

Find an extra wow factor that I can add into my weddings.

I'm expecting something I haven't seen before,

and I can't wait for it.

Alone and abroad. Who will have the confidence to talk business with some of Europe's leading hoteliers?

And who will have the creativity and persistence to wow the main man, Mr J Lord?

I run a proper business and they're going out in my name,

for my company, and they can't cock it up.

With those delicate words still ringing in their ears,

it's straight to the airport.

So "si" is yes, "no" is no.

This whole experience is brilliant. It's given me this opportunity.

It's going to be intense and stressful.

I'd like to think that I know what's good and what's not.

I've never worked abroad before in my life.

It's a really big responsibility but I'm enjoying the thought of it all.

Erm, good morning, "du..." All right, no.

Armed with a new-found linguistic expertise,

it's goodbye to the UK and hello to continental Europe.

Day one of the European Odyssey,

and our recruits have woken with mixed feelings on what lies ahead.

I'm feeling very, er, apprehensive and nervous today

because I don't really know what the job entails and negotiation.

I think I've written about 20 pages of notes.

It's all the stuff that we were told initially

but then I've kind of tried to get it all together into comprehensive lists.

There will be a lot of numbers flying about. I've got a calculator, so I can work it out quickly

and make sure I don't look like a douche in front of the negotiator.

If there are Italian men then, obviously, you know,

I will use that to my advantage to a certain point.

I can give banter and act like a damsel in distress maybe.

I've got my smart gear on. I'm wearing all black,

which is just ridiculous in this heat.

I'm sweating already, phew!

Got my bag, I'm just blacked out really.

I've got black shoes, black socks even, black boxers.

Just minutes away from their first ever international business meeting,

our recruits start thinking strategy.

I'm covering all bases, trying to get to know a bit of the language,

making sure that I know what time I've got to be where.

What's the point in the phrase book? It's all in French.

I want to go in, see the place, listen to a bit of French,

say what I want and go out.

I might seem like a sweet young lady,

but I do have a part of me with a business mind.

Not so much with the figures, but he doesn't have to know that.

-Dressed to impress, Sacha arrives at her first venue.

-Hello, Sacha.

-Hello.

-Welcome to the spa resort.

-Thank you.

-Nice to meet you.

I wanted to show you this garden because it's a really nice garden.

-It's nice to have a wedding around a pool.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Oh, wow!

-Nice spacious room.

-Big bed.

-Yeah, big bed, tiny windows.

Negotiation time and Sacha has the hotel manager seemingly in the palm of her hand.

-Maybe you'd like a drink...

-Yes, please.

-..before we go into details.

My method really is just smiling and kind of being friendly

and just being really positive and upbeat really.

I'd like a price on exclusivity to rooms, in that, wait a second,

erm,

say we got all the rooms booked,

what sort of commission would be...?

We pay 10% net VAT.

It depends on the rate you're ready to pay and length of stay.

10.5?

What does it mean, 10.5? I mean, er, it doesn't make sense for me.

OK, 11?

Well, er, what about 10? For me, the commission is 10%.

I'm really used to clients asking me go up to 16, 20%.

I could have given but I didn't.

Next time I know, if I really want something,

then percentages of five is no good, go to the whole 11.

300 miles away, Ben arrives at his first venue,

knowing first impressions count.

My greatest problem is showing people that...

I have a personality behind that CV.

But the first place could be the ideal place,

so if I mess that negotiation up then I've messed my chances up.

Hello, Ben. Nice to meet you. My name is Nadine.

So then we do happy hour outside veranda...

-Yeah.

-..with the beautiful view of the lake.

-Yeah, the view's amazing, absolutely amazing.

-Exactly.

Enjoying his tour immensely,

Ben knows negotiation time is just around the corner.

Naturally I will open you the window.

Erm... I would say I'm relatively good at negotiating.

If you work for what you want,

you'll get what you want at the end of the day.

Basically our company works on a commission basis on the accommodation side.

So I was just wondering how much commission would you be prepared to offer us?

OK, that would be the 10%.

Erm... and there's no way of budging you on that 10%?

I'm afraid no.

I am not able just to give you like a closer...

I didn't really push it that much because she didn't really want to budge on 10%.

I've learnt a little bit from it now and I think I'll do

a slightly different tack in the next negotiation.

Yet to strike her first deal is Kirsty.

I'm feeling OK about it.

I feel well prepared, so yeah.

Just going to go in and absolutely nail it hopefully.

I suppose, yeah, my faith in myself has been knocked.

I, you know, on paper I know that I've got all these things

that I've got on my CV but getting turned down for things doesn't help.

-Kirsty.

-Alberto. How do you do?

'So to use all the skills that I know that I've got will be, yeah,

'good to prove that I'm not stupid.'

We sleep up to 200 people here.

200 people.

And the master table is over there.

Some parts of it are absolutely beautiful. There did seem to be room

to move between areas for different parts of the wedding which is what we're after.

Here we have another scenario.

Try this one.

Sorry, they're locked.

Five-star hotel manager Alberto seems particularly keen to impress Kirsty.

This room is another possibility.

We can do it in here for the dining and so on, right?

Taken by Alberto's enthusiasm,

Kirsty looks forward to negotiating terms with him.

So yeah, it's not bad, maybe not excellent.

I was wondering what kind of erm...

what kind of percentages you give for food and accommodation.

It depends on how well you behave.

Five on food and beverages, 10 to 15% in accommodation.

-Yes?

-Yes.

Well, I was very actually impressed with the...

how reasonable the rooms are here.

Yes, we tend to... we want to be competitive.

Yeah, I feel like he thought I was a real person from the company which was great.

So yeah, I think I pulled it off.

Although on a high after a negotiation,

Kirsty has failed to agree an exact figure for commission.

Ready to do business in France is Chris.

I've never really had to deal with five star places.

Hopefully he'll think I know what I'm talking about,

and he won't try and mug me off.

-Hello, Chris.

-Hello, bonjour.

-Hello, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Welcome to the Le Negresco.

-Thank you.

I would say I would like to sort of take my life into my own hands,

not be sort of led towards things.

I don't like sticking to like the guidelines of life

where people just sort of seem bored.

-So Le Negresco is a five star hotel...

-Yeah.

..with a concept of art gallery hotel.

This is going to have like those ridiculous things you don't need.

I suppose that's five star, isn't it?

We have two portraits of Louis XV here

and we have as well modern art. And everything is authentic.

I have no idea what he's talking about with the artists.

He did say the bloke that made the roof here made the Eiffel Tower.

Having "appreciated" the hotel's historic art collection,

how at home will Chris be when it comes to negotiation?

How high would you go on the commission for the accommodation?

We can see er if we can give you maybe 11% commission.

Would you be able to go to say 13%?

So, on accommodation er... either we keep the 10% commission

and you have a free upgrade, or we keep the standard rooms

and the exclusive rooms with the 13% commission.

OK.

It sounds too straightforward. There must be something missing for me

to feel comfortable doing it and for it to seem this easy.

With the first negotiations under their belt,

our recruits charge on across Europe to broker yet more deals.

Oh, my gosh!

It's like a movie set.

Buenos tardes.

It's absolutely gorgeous but maybe for a city break for me.

You can have a view on our private beach.

Oh, wow!

Proper business bloke now.

Jeez, if my teachers would see me now.

Some are finding business harder than others.

Commission, we give from 10 to 15%.

Can we talk about maybe 13%, I mean that's kind of in between?

-OK?

-Yeah.

Is there any higher that you could go for that?

I'd say 12%.

-No commission at all?

-No.

OK.

It's on to venue number three,

and for our wannabe wedding planners,

their last chance to impress.

SHE SPEAKS SPANISH

SHE REPLIES IN SPANISH

Hablo Ingles?

Yes. Your name, please?

Kirsty Styles.

Mm-hm, just a moment.

Expecting to be bowled over by five-star luxury,

Kirsty's taking her role ever more seriously.

Nice to meet you.

We need to get started basically. If you'd like to give me

half an hour just to give me a tour round?

This is the grand presidential suite

and here we have the Jacuzzi and...

It's very high end.

Erm... I don't think it's being sold as well as it could be

compared to the first one.

I think it's won an awful lot of awards so it might be

a kind of obvious choice when it comes to planning a wedding.

Feeling the hotel doesn't match her own five-star standards,

Kirsty prepares to play hardball.

And do you... How much commission do you offer to the agents?

We offer around 8%.

We can get up to 25%... is what we've found.

HE LAUGHS

No, it's too much for us.

We just give exactly 10%.

Right.

Our clients are usually willing to pay on average 80,000 euro.

Eight O...?

Yes, it's... Does that seem a lot?

No, not a lot.

No, OK.

Confused, erm... definitely overwhelmed,

still kind of thinking, "No, I'm not that sure."

With Kirsty's head in a spin over her options,

Sacha is listening to her heart and fallen in love at first sight.

It's like a fantasy, you know?

Like something you'd see in a film. Gracias.

The property is a private property,

and it belongs to my family, the Cavazza family.

OK. That is gorgeous.

While enjoying her fantasy island experience,

Sacha has a hurdle to overcome.

I do find it hard talking about money to people.

I get embarrassed easily about money.

I think because it's such a big subject and it kind of defines

who you are, that it just makes me a little uncomfortable.

To secure her dream venue though, Sacha with her limited

negotiation skills is about to face a tough test.

We don't normally give a commission.

OK.

That always happens here.

OK, er... Let's see.

Say if it was three weddings, high season.

If you've got two, three weddings a year to offer me,

then I could think about it.

If we could commit to a minimum of three weddings then we can...

there's an opening to think about the 10%?

-Yeah, on the next ones, yeah.

-OK, all right, lovely.

Normally we do not give commissions to wedding planners

or companies, so probably she did quite well, you know.

I wanted to kind of be like, "Yeah, I've seen it all before,"

but I hadn't seen that before so I definitely was overjoyed.

Thank you very much.

-Prego.

-Prego.

Happy with his first two deals, fellow non-graduate Chris

is hoping his direct style will bring home the hat-trick.

The Chateau St Martin's Spa sits on 32 acres,

so I'm not going to be able to show you,

you know, every square metre of the property, it's very big.

You can imagine having, you know,

one harpist or a couple of musicians here playing.

Wow!

So you know, that's why we call it The balcony on the Riviera.

We have a private helipad.

Oh, yeah.

So this is our La Prairie spa. Bonsoir.

Bonsoir.

The place is amazing.

I've never been anywhere like this before in my life.

If I really want something, I will try my best to get it.

Would you be willing to go up on the percentage on the accommodation?

-I would be quite happy to go up to 15%...

-15%?

..on the accommodation.

He kept talking and every time he said something

I sort of thought of something else that I want.

I was like, right, "OK, you're talking I'm going to ask for more."

Would you be willing to do a deal on a spa?

For the bride and groom we could have a half day complimentary treatments, OK?

I'm really happy with that.

I'm pretty sure that negotiation went down quite well.

I mean they got dinner out of it.

Some stuff on there I wouldn't...

it's probably what I would earn in a week...

if I had a job.

This is the last negotiation, got to go out with a bang.

If I can get a good deal then it might be the winner.

Despite his high hopes,

Ben is yet to sample success at the negotiation table.

-Ben.

-I'm Samantha.

-Nice to meet you.

-Welcome here.

Thank you very much. This looks amazing.

Yes, it is.

So when it comes to negotiating at the last venue,

will he come out on top?

They're trying to sell to me, I'm not trying to sell to them.

She's only been here for four months so I'm going to take control from the start, I think.

How much commission would we be able to take off that £565?

The commission will be 10% only on the accommodation.

HE SIGHS

Earlier on, when I went to one of the other venues,

they were charging close to 15%,

so, I mean, I can't really go back to my boss

and be like, "Yeah, this is a great place, but..."

Considering the amount of money. Is there any way you can budge?

But the commission is just the commission and I cannot do anything.

-You can't budge on that at all?

-No.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for the tour and thank you for your time. Take care.

-Have a nice day.

-You too.

With negotiations drawn to a close,

all that can be done now is to reflect on a hard day's work.

I'm a little frustrated because I used the first negotiation as a way to learn a little bit,

the second one was a bit dead in the water

and, the third one, I couldn't really get her budging.

It's disappointing that I haven't really got the results from it.

Sadly, it didn't work.

I haven't made any deals as such.

I've discussed terms and I think I've really risen to the challenge today.

I'm in Italy, you know?

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on a sofa

watching awful TV and eating bread.

I've experienced so much in such a short time.

If you stick me somewhere, I can complete that job.

It actually turns out that I was all right,

so I think I've done really well.

I'm proud of myself anyway.

Am I late?

Day two, and, after a well-deserved night's sleep,

the recruits wake to face another demanding day.

It's all about securing the wow factor.

The recruits have a very difficult job ahead of them.

I've given them the assignment of creating a wow factor

to accompany any wedding that happens in the region.

It could be something to do with food, drink, transport - anything they want.

Under pressure in a very short timeframe, they have to think on their feet.

I'm not too worried.

I might be worried in two or three hours when I can't find anything

but, at the moment, I'm fine and just take it easy,

try and stay calm like I did yesterday.

But, first things first. Ben's got to find extra rooms.

His chosen venue, Le Vieux Manoir,

doesn't have enough accommodation for an entire wedding.

I've got a few numbers for some hotels across the lake.

I'm going to give them a call now

and see if I can set up a meeting with them.

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour. Speak Anglais?

-Yes I do.

-Oh, brilliant. Thank you very much.

Hi. I'm working for a company called Love & Lord

-and we're a wedding planning agency.

-Yes.

Basically, I was wondering if I could talk to your events manager

just about an opportunity that we have arising.

-What is your name, sir?

-My name is Benjamin Cooper.

-Benjamin Cooper?

-Yeah.

-One moment, please.

-Thank you.

MUSIC ON PHONE

-Ah, buenos dias. Is that Alberto?

-Speaking.

Hello, Alberto. It's Kirsty.

Before getting to her wow factor,

and after a night of researching each hotel,

Kirsty calls Alberto at La Magdalena with her decision.

I'd like to select your venue as somebody who we'd like to work with.

Fantastic...you charmer(!)

MUSIC ON PHONE

Yes, I think we'll be meeting this afternoon

to just finalise some of the details, erm...

which is...which is great.

So now I just need to break a couple of hearts.

Obviously, you've got fantastic facilities...

Seemingly confident in her decision,

Kirsty immediately rejects the other two venues.

We may well contact you in the near future but, on this occasion, I've decided... OK.

Perfect, Rosa.

Thank you very much for all your hard work.

This is definitely a controversial decision for me.

Erm...

Meanwhile, Ben finally gets through to someone.

-Which company are you?

-It's called Love & Lord.

We're a UK company and, basically, we do wedding planning for high...

-That's one of the things we don't do.

-You don't? We're not looking to...

We only do weddings if they take the total of the hotel. You'd have to take 40 rooms.

Immediately on the case for his wow factor, Chris' chosen venue,

Le Chateau San Martin, has given him an idea.

I found out that the place has a helicopter pad so I want a helicopter involved now.

They can fly anywhere so... there's a monastery on an island

and they could just fly there and meet the monks and get...

Apparently they make their own wine

so they could get a wine, sort of, made out for them.

Yeah, that's my...that's my plan.

Helicopter, monks. This could be my hidden talent.

I could be proper good at this and then earn loads of money

and have a yacht and stuff, and be a knob.

Having selected the fantasy island palace as her venue,

Sacha's still in a romantic mood when it comes to her wow factor.

I want to see if we could get a boat for the couple,

and someone kind of singing, it could be even opera.

I'm just going to go and have a walk round, maybe ask the locals.

-Parlez Anglais?

-No?

-Parlez Anglais?

-No.

-Parlez Anglais?

-No.

Everyone seems German. I need a German phrase book.

I found a helicopter place just by having a look at the internet

and finding out who to talk to and that.

That's the sort of thing I used to do at home anyway when I'd be applying for jobs -

find a company and find out who the top bloke was, like the boss.

Hello?

Opera singer?

Aaaaah. Singer? No? OK.

Ah, I can hear a helicopter.

Opera? Aaaaah.

-Singer?

-Aaaaah.

Yes. Erm, anywhere I can get one?

With Sacha and Chris hunting high and low,

Kirsty's plans for her more modest wow factor see her return to La Magdalena.

Well, my wow extra is to plant a tree,

and then they can come back over the course of their lives to see how it's going.

It's all safely in the hands of hotel manager Alberto.

I'll show you the place where the trees would be planted, the olive trees.

-Oh, fantastic. Thank you.

-This way.

I didn't bring my hiking shoes.

This is the land that we'll be using to plant the trees

as a remembrance of the wedding.

All right? We'll go back to the hotel.

In Italy, Sacha's search for a high class opera singer has finally thrown up a lead.

MUSIC

Ah.

You hear the song now.

Of sorts(!)

MAN SINGS "IT'S NOT UNUSUAL" IN ITALIAN

Si. Oh, wonderful. Grazie.

All right, erm...

-Thank you for the help.

-Have a nice day.

-Yeah, you too. Si. Arrivederci.

-Ciao. Grazie.

Realistically, opera might be a bit hard to have on a boat.

Over in Switzerland and still without those extra rooms,

Ben has gone back to his chosen venue in search for help.

I've just been in Le Vieux Manoir.

I've just seen Nadine and she's been really helpful.

She's given me a timetable to get the public boat

and she's given me some hotels... a hotel across the lake to look at,

but I haven't got enough time to do it, so I've got to decide what to do right now.

I'm going to give a phone call to the hotel now, because that's the most important thing.

-Bonjour. Speak Anglais?

-Yes, I do.

Hi. Erm, I called earlier about talking to the events manager

and I was wondering if they're around at the moment.

-One moment, please.

-Thank you.

MUSIC ON PHONE

It says helicopter.

"Azur helicoptere."

-Speak English?

-Yes, I do.

-Oh, wow. Thank you.

-Erm, do you rent out helicopters?

-Yes, we do.

-To the...this one?

-Yes.

-How much is it to there?

-From here to there? 1,200 euros.

-What's the maximum number of people in the helicopter?

-Six.

-Six people?

-We have a six-seater, yes.

-OK. Cool.

I didn't realise it was that straightforward.

It's all gone to plan, really.

With Chris flying high, Ben is still desperate for those extra rooms.

Do you know when he'll be out of the meeting?

'Er, maybe in an hour, an hour and a half.'

OK, is there any, like, a general manager there I can speak to?

'Erm, he's also in the same reunion, that's why.'

Er, OK, no worries, I'll get...

Oh! I'll get him to call back in a minute.

-'Thank you, my pleasure.'

-Bye.

My laptop's run out of battery and I ain't got an adaptor,

so I can't look at anything on the internet.

And I'm trying to figure out at the moment

where the hotel is and how far it is.

For fellow graduate Kirsty, doubts are also creeping in.

I'm not sure I've made the right decision.

Erm, but you know, this one had the space

and the exclusivity we were looking for, and it has the character.

I'm just annoyed now that I've, erm, said no to the other two

when I should have got here first just to have another look at it.

At the moment, I just need to get everything sorted out.

HE TUTS Time is running out here.

Er, but you know, you live, you learn. Erm...

so I think I'm not choosing this one.

Obviously, I could've done a range of things better, but, erm...

you always could do things better.

-We've managed to get the flamenco show to come over to...

-Oh, perfect.

Unaware of Kirsty's doubts, Alberto has laid on a six-course lunch

and flamenco dancers to celebrate their new partnership.

Erm, I'll have to have a think about what I'm going to do.

Erm, you know, it obviously is a fantastic location, it looks great from the front,

-but it's a bit like Fawlty Towers.

-LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

FLAMENCO MUSIC PLAYS

'You know, I felt like I needed to be decisive, and...'

I don't know if my indecision's killing me or that it's the wrong decision.

I've, erm, I'm a bit stuck.

I really don't know what I'm going to do.

I'm sat in the middle of dinner, so I'm quite...

There must be more flamenco, my god!

I've not had... To be indecisive

and not have a chance to make a decision is difficult.

So I've not even had minutes to even go off and think what I might do,

cos we've had flamenco and dinner, and it's absolutely boiling here.

Yeah, I've, erm, got to make the final negotiation now

and I'm, erm, just going to kind of work

with the numbers that we'd already talked about, erm...

I am really impressed with what they've done here,

and I don't know whether I'm just being too critical. Erm...

Erm, you know, I've come with a remit

and I think this one fitted it the best. So I'm...

happy to go with it, I think.

-Hello.

-Hello, gracias.

-How are you?

-Oh, perfect.

Leaving behind the search for a singer,

Sacha is focused on finding a boat.

I don't like the look of these. They're just too big, they're too...

Like, you know, you want to get into like maybe a limo or a hummer,

you don't want to go in a coach. You know that sort of feel?

I want like a cat, a catman, a catman-style boat,

like a, you know, like a pirate boat is what I'm thinking.

So, erm, I need to go look.

Do you know anyone with big boat, er, to hire?

A boat?

Yeah, rent a boat. Si, yes!

There is the island of monks there.

It's not really straightforward where you get to them,

so I'm assuming it's that where the dotted line is.

These are very big. Whoa!

Do you have no smaller, like rent pirate?

The ferry's over there.

So I've got to get a ferry to get, er...and then talk to a monk.

I'm not stressed, I just want to get, erm,

see if I can get the image of the boat that, erm, I have in my mind

and then we can have some ice cream.

Motivated by her thought of cold dairy products,

Sacha suddenly spots what could be the boat of her dreams.

This is what I'm thinking here, and they do it every day,

so I need to know if you can actually hire this out.

I don't know if that's the time or the area.

Tickets, it says up there, I've got to get the ferry to see the monks.

If he doesn't speak English, I'm pretty much fucked!

Language issues aside,

Chris's search for his ambitious wow factor

-is beginning to take its toll.

-How much is a ticket?

I don't know, it's just the foreign sort of thing

and then dealing with the heat.

It's hard work, it's hard work.

En route to securing extra accommodation in Switzerland,

Ben takes a moment to think about his wow factor -

a wine tasting at a local vineyard.

I haven't really done any research, really,

so, erm, I'm reaping the consequences of that, I guess.

I'm not 100% sure, erm, where I am at the moment,

but I saw a vineyard called Vin du Valley,

so I'm just going to go and try and find there

and then, erm, see what they offer.

Excuse moi, er, speaky Anglais?

Non, erm, Vin du Valley, Vin du Valley?

'Erm, from my little bit of French that I know,'

this is the place and I think that is the house over there,

so I'll have a quick walk over there.

Desperate to find his vineyard,

Ben's search leads him into a local cabbage patch.

Er, speaky Anglais? Er Vin du Valley?

Vin du...? Where?

INAUDIBLE SPEECH

Er, pardon? OK, all right, sorry, si.

I couldn't tell you if it was the vineyard, to be honest.

I just had a random French guy shout at me for going on his land,

and he wouldn't tell me anything else, just kept shouting at me,

so, erm, that was great fun.

But erm, yeah, let's carry on with the schedule,

I've still got a lot to do.

But mother nature has one more sting in her tail for Ben.

Ah, fuck!

I've got two hours left to sort a hotel out and, god's sake,

and, erm, come up with my wow factor.

I need a, er, boat, erm...

-One boat?

-Yeah, big boat.

-OK.

Like a cat man, like a pirate-looking boat? Wooden?

Only the space, only the boat that you see,

property of the number, so I can't give you nothing.

The lady I spoke to in the restaurant

who gave me the information was from the yacht club,

so, erm, she knows all about boats.

-Do you know anyone who has this boat?

-This, right, half day.

-Uh?

-"Mezza giornata"...

-OK.

-..is half day.

-Oh!

-OK? So I don't understand what you want.

-OK, erm...

The boat that I thought it was called meant half day,

so that, that wasn't the boat.

But luckily, I asked her all the information I'd written down to make sure that I had everything

and she said what boat I needed, so that was great.

-OK, do you know anywhere I can call?

-You rent?

-Yes.

Er...Cassone is the town.

OK. 'And the boat that I want, I'm getting closer and closer,'

'so I'm hunting it down. It's not easy.

'Lots of travelling and just generally asking people.'

I'll hunt that boat down, get it, bring the information back to James

and make sure he knows that I was committed to this.

After an awkward lunch and doubting her final decision,

Kirsty re-examines the brief for a get-out clause.

I got a bit confused about what I needed to do.

It doesn't say in the brief that you have to reject two of them, erm...

Where did I get that idea from?

I don't know where my eyeliner is,

but in hot countries, it definitely sweats off a bit more.

Erm...

This is all right, isn't it? Nice little island.

-Very nice.

-Re-invigorated by the island's paradise,

Chris's enthusiasm reaps its own reward -

a rare trip inside the monk-only zone.

-You can go inside.

-Oh, wow.

-Has no-one ever landed a helicopter here?

-No.

-I guess they make lots of noise...

-Yeah.

-..and disturb all the place.

-Hello.

-This is Chris.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-You can speak in French now.

-I can speak? Yeah.

-Yes. You speak French?

Er, no, I don't speak French. I wish I could, though.

I've never met a monk before, so it's really nice to meet a monk.

Would I be able to land a helicopter on the island?

It's, erm, not easy.

Not easy? Is there anywhere that could possibly...?

-You must study the...

-INAUDIBLE SPEECH

-What was that?

-We have to think about.

-OK.

They've never landed a helicopter on the island ever.

So for him to say maybe to me was quite good.

I thought that was a bit of a success there.

I'm negotiating with monks now.

What's the best wine that you make?

-The best is the pinot noir.

-OK.

-Only pinot noir.

Pinot noir? And what's in that?

-What's the ingredients?

-It's the name of the grape.

Chris's search for his wow factor seems to have ended in triumph.

He said they could do the personalised label for the couple

with the date of their wedding, which is really cool.

I think he thought I was getting married.

Very nice.

I think it's this way to the lake.

Si.

The lake is straight ahead.

OK, all right, this is what I'm talking about.

This has got the character, this has got the romance, it shouts Italian,

it shouts romance yet again, two lots of romance.

Ciao. Er, I am Sacha Kerns, um, I am a wedding planner.

-Erm, can I take a look around your boat?

-Yes, please.

How much would it be to hire the whole boat for a day?

-One day is 2,000 euros.

-OK, 2,000 euros.

This is dreamy. This is Love & Lord. This is the extra special I wanted.

This will go with the whole dream of the island,

the private island, the private boat.

And I'm so proud, I can't wait to show this to James.

Having given up his search for the elusive vineyard,

Ben has found the hotel on the other side of the lake,

his last hope in securing those vital extra rooms.

An events manager is still in a meeting, so, erm,

they still don't really know that I'm coming,

which is, erm, a risk that I have taken.

But in life, you need to take risks and deal with the consequences.

I definitely need to pull a finger out of my arse and make sure the negotiation goes really well

or I might as well go jump off a cliff

instead of present it to James, cos I won't have enough accommodation.

'Definitely pressure, definitely nerves,

'definitely the anxiety and definitely thinking

'maybe I should've done this or done that.'

-Could I ask what the rate would be at the start?

-Of course not.

That's something that could be negotiated and considered.

There's no way I can budge you to just give me like just a ball fark... a ball park figure?

Not right now, because I know nothing about your company.

Do you have a brochure of your company?

-Do you have a website address I could have a look for.

-Erm...

-I'm afraid I left it in my car, I can get it to you in one second, sorry.

-Sure.

-But...

I'm not going to say we are not interested,

I cannot say that, of course.

But I cannot give you any answer today or cannot quote a price today,

because of course I need to know

what is your company and to get more details.

Fair enough, it's just I need something a little bit more concrete

to give back to my manager, cos he's not going to be happy with me.

You've got something very concrete. It's a nice place, a nice area,

we've got nice rooms. Would you like to have a look at rooms?

Erm, yeah, I would, once we've finished this conversation,

that would be brilliant, erm...

Just give me one second, sorry.

When you go to a place to negotiate something, to present your company,

you should have something that you bring with you.

Like you sit at the table, open your stuff and you have some brochure.

-Thank you for your time.

-Thank you very much.

He still needs to learn a lot, you know, how to present himself,

how to make an appointment, how to behave during an interview.

It was, er, very tough and I feel a bit drained right now.

Um, I managed to get something provisionally out of him

that I could probably give to James, but it wasn't anything concrete.

So, erm yeah...I'm not sure how successful it was, really.

But I still think, if I went in and did this whole process again,

apart from maybe the organisational part,

I'd probably be doing the same mistakes again.

I don't feel that I've had that epiphany and learnt that much yet.

With Ben left deflated on the shores of Lake Geneva,

the European Odyssey hasn't necessarily

been that bad for all our recruits.

Before I done this, erm,

I sort of had a rough idea of what work is and that,

but the jobs I've done aren't really to this level.

So I've sort of got a really good, er, insight of what it's like.

So yeah, it's sort of, er, made, made it click.

'Erm, I feel like I worked really hard, I got stuck into it...'

But I'm pretty indecisive.

It's a kind of, you know, can't predict the future kind of thing,

so you don't know how the decision is going to work out.

This has been definitely a rollercoaster,

but definitely it's opened my eyes up to totally different things,

and that's amazing, because now I know I can do more with myself

and I'm not just, you know, a young mum who needs to give up,

I'm someone that still has a life and can keep going.

Now back in the UK, it's the final challenge -

to present their findings to boss James Lord,

but will he be impressed?

'I'm starting to stress a little bit, cos I haven't got anything ready.'

Erm, I should be very prepared by now and I'm not.

I'm not nervous or anything. I think I'm too tired for that.

Which one of our first-time location executives will prove to James

that they had the necessary negotiating talent?

-Good afternoon.

-ALL: Good afternoon.

-OK.

And who had the imagination and resourcefulness

to deliver a stunning wow factor?

-Are you all ready, then?

-Yes.

-Yes? You all prepped?

Kirsty, I'd like you to go first.

So thank you very much for having us back, erm, James.

For the first one, they offered between, er, 10-15%.

-So what did you agree, then?

-Erm, I erm, I have to say

that negotiation, a solid negotiation wasn't my strongest area.

-Erm, we agreed upon...

-So?

-..between 10 and 15.

So you didn't negotiate anything, you didn't get to an actual figure?

I tried incredibly hard, and, if it's not OK with you,

then I apologise. SHE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

OK. Erm, well, with respect, that wasn't actually the brief.

I was disappointed that Kirsty didn't actually shake on a deal and get a concrete figure.

I need to go back to the venues and redo it. I don't know what I'm getting.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't have much faith in my own decisions,

because I've made some kind of decisions that I think were stupid.

Probably not a, erm, Love & Lord, erm, wedding planner.

-OK.

-Ha! Erm, so another part of the package that I agreed with them

was the opportunity to plant an olive tree.

Olive trees are, erm, of the region, so to symbolise the marriage and...

-Just to stop you there...

-That's the end. So sorry.

-All right...

-Gracias was what I was going to say.

-No problem, thank you.

'My ultimate ambition is to be Prime Minister, and it still is.'

This particular task has really, really brought home the fact that

I sometimes have an almost crippling inability to make decisions,

and that's obviously not, not something

that somebody who's leading an entire country can possibly have.

It was 10% commission, erm, which is like £4,100.

-Where did you start off?

-I said, "How much is your commission?" She was like, "10%."

-That's company policy.

-So you didn't get her up?

I was like, "What can I offer?" She said, "I can't make that decision."

But did you ask who actually has the authority

-to make a decision about getting more commission?

-No.

-No, OK.

I don't think I've personally learnt a set of skills from this job,

but I think, once again, I've gone through the process

of looking at myself a bit more and...

Yeah. I don't know, yesterday was, erm...

I don't know what yesterday was, to be honest.

What was your wow factor?

Erm, my wow factor was to then go across to the other side of the lake and there was a vineyard.

-Did you actually see it?

-I'm afraid I had to do it over the phone...

So you don't know what it looks like? No...

-So I can't judge what you've done without seeing it, unfortunately.

-No, that's fine. OK, erm...

I looked at this job thinking, "Yeah, this is brilliant!"

I think I put too much pressure on myself to do really good,

because I was like, "Oh my god, this could be amazing."

And, erm, I need to embrace it a lot more than maybe I'm doing.

Maybe I'm causing too much friction with myself.

Now this has a total palace feel, and the thing is,

because it's taken care of by a family, there's love,

there's sort of this kind of an amazing magic feel in there.

She did say she doesn't give commission, so, erm,

I decided to ask her some more questions.

Then she said, if we do have a second and a third, she'll go up to ten.

-That's worth a commission, isn't it?

-So I thought that was quite nice.

I think it was good that you adapted sort of how you spoke and how you acted to the situation.

I've learnt, you know, presenting isn't as scary as you think.

Basically, it's talking, and, erm, you know,

I've been doing that for quite a long time now, So...

-What was your wow factor?

-I had an idea of...

a boat. I literally saw that in the window and said, "I want that."

-HE LAUGHS OK?

-Fine.

I walked down and saw this, er, which is a boat.

-OK. It's the, er, Veronica.

-Mm-hm.

-It was 2,000 euros.

1,200 euros for half a day.

That's a good price. Well, it seems like you did well

-to see a boat in a shop window and find it...

-That's the girl I am.

..in the space of a few hours, so that's to your credit, definitely.

Thank you. Well, that is my presentation.

Well done. Very good, Sacha.

I can't quite believe what Sacha did for her wow factor.

'She found the boat and she got it for an amazing price.'

I think that's great thinking on her feet and persistence

and it really paid off for her, it's brilliant.

I've realised there are set skills that you do in every single job.

Negotiating, presenting, you know,

listening and being respectful to others, you know, helping,

there's all these sort of things and I'm pretty damn good at all of them.

This place was just spectacular.

It's got its own private helicopter pad.

He did originally say, erm, 10%, and I said, "Can I go to 15%?"

He sort of went, "Er..." I said,

"If you promise a minimum of three days, we'll go to 15%." I said "Fine, yeah."

'He absolutely nailed it with the negotiation.'

He got 50% more commission on the rooms than the original offer,

which I think is fantastic. He's got me 50% more money.

And I also found out there is a monastery, er, with monks

and they make their own wine, and it was a brilliant island.

And, erm, with the helicopter,

it's actually really easy to get a helicopter.

I did not realise this at all. It's like ordering a taxi.

The person I was most impressed by was undoubtedly Chris.

I knew you were going to do it again! I knew it!

I could kick you!

I think you're a diamond, a little bit rough.

-We might need to polish you up a bit, though, first.

-Cheers!

-The wowiest wow factor I've ever known!

-HE LAUGHS

I felt on top of the world with that.

I was never expecting people to say that I did that well.

'It shows that I can do it, and gives me that drive.'

-I think you've hit the nail on the head here.

-Thank you.

I want a job like that.

I want a job that I really enjoy and actually show good results.

And I'd feel proud of saying, "Oh, I have this job."

I don't think I will be unemployed for long after this.

Well, given the feedback I got today.

Next time, our recruits get the ultimate crash course

-in how to run a business.

-How are you?

-I'm fine.

'To set up a business, you have to be a little bit fearless.'

There is a definite moment where you have to take the plunge and do it.

I think I just made a deal, actually, erm, genuinely.

-It absolutely has to work! If you don't believe in it...

-It won't work.

..nobody else will believe in it either.

Their decisions could cost the company millions of pounds.

You can keep on breathing.

-Any questions you need to ask me before you get in?

-I'd quite like to work on what I'll say.

Scrutinised by Britain's top business leaders,

will they cope or will they crack under the pressure?

I'm so frustrated, because he just keeps putting himself down.

-She's going to struggle.

-The buck stops here.

If you want to find out how to become a more successful job hunter,

go to this website...

Woo-hoo!

You could take part in the Get Yourself Hired test

and get personal advice from The Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]