Free The Candidate by Juliet Francis Page B

I’d like you to get started right away.’
    Friggin’ hell! She’d just landed the biggest account Shine had seen yet. ‘Robert. I’m flattered. Thank you. I’ll speak to AdMaster later this morning, get them to reserve some space for next weekend and the following …’
    ‘No, Ginny, that’s the thing. We need to go this weekend. Okay to get that sorted?’
    She swallowed hard. Didn’t the man understand things like space and copy deadlines? ‘I’ll see what I can do, Robert, but the space really had to have been booked yesterday …’
    ‘That’s why I rang first-up. Give you plenty of time to charm them.’
    He wouldn’t have made that comment if I was a bloke, she thought. What did he think she could do? Flutter her eyelashes and get the entire print line-up changed for one lousy ad?
    ‘I’ve also emailed through a few UK firms you can add to your search list.’ Ginny’s phone vibrated, announcing the arrival of the incoming email. ‘And we’d appreciate a progress report a week from Monday. Our deadlines are tight, and we got agreement on one of our proposals late yesterday, so I really need this person ASAP …’
    Ginny tuned out. It was nothing she hadn’t heard before. The minute the client awarded the work they expected results within days. She felt her stress levels start to rise. Could she do this? The other firm that had pitched — Miles’, she thought with an uneasy turn of her stomach — would have a team of consultants, researchers and administrators ready to yell a collective ‘How high?’ as soon as a man like Robert Kendrick asked them to start jumping. What had she been thinking?
    She took a deep breath. Toughen up, she told herself. This is what you wanted, and what the business needs. She concentrated on what Robert was saying.
    ‘I have to say, Ginny, Jackson favoured someone more established. However, I believe that a business such as yours — younger, hungrier — will work harder for the results we’re after. Don’t let me down, will you?’
    And with that cheering endorsement, he was gone.
    Ginny dressed with lightning speed. Heading down for the first of what she knew would be several coffees that day, she hit Ange’s speed dial, and swore under her breath when she got voicemail.
    ‘Ange, can you make it in this morning? I just heard from Robert Kendrick. I got it, we got it. I need you! Please call. Or just turn up.’
    Grabbing her latte with a hurried ‘Good morning’ to Bruno/Marco, she dashed back to the office and started up her computer. It was too early to call AdMaster, but she kept an eagle eye on the clock so she wouldn’t get caught up and forget about it altogether.
    She thought about what Ange could help her with, and prayed that her faithful assistant didn’t have other plans for the day. The business development scheduled for the morning would have to go out the window, but she should contact the client with the possible vacancy. It was bad business not to follow up a warm lead. She fired off a friendly email, and made a diary note to call later that afternoon if she hadn’t heard back. She thought of the CVs she had gone through the night before. She’d planned to start interviewing candidates the following week but now she had to get a shortlist together ASAP. That meant interviewing today and tomorrow.
    Ginny was startled to notice the time. Grabbing her phone, she spent a nerve-racking ten minutes pleading, cajoling and gently threatening her account manager at AdMaster to guarantee that the ad for RK Investments and Strategy would run that weekend.
    Sighing with relief and making a note to send a thank-you email on Monday — once she’d seen the ad resplendent in Saturday’s paper — she turned her attention to the search list. She was itching to get started.
     
    When Ange turned up just after nine, Ginny nearly kissed her. She handed her a long list of tasks before carrying on with her own considerable to-do list.
    It was too early