 Although he has done observational "field work" in the past and recruited spies that report to him, Guillam himself is uncomfortable with getting personally involved in spying operations, preferring an administrative role.His hands-off approach to spy work places him on the periphery of the numerous cliques and rivalries that form within the Circus, allowing him to survive multiple bureaucratic shakeups that occur throughout the 1960s and 70s; nevertheless, he retains a secret loyalty to George Smiley, who functions as his mentor.He constantly finds himself reassigned to divisions and assignments considered mediocre or undesirable, including running The Scalphunters, the division of the Circus responsible for espionage operations requiring violence or assassinations.