James Reed

So if the organization is growing or succeeding or showing real promise for the future,

it's more likely, isn't it, that your career will flourish because you can grow with it.

You're more likely to get pay rises and promotions in a company that's flourishing than in one that's not.

So is this something you advise people to look out for when they're thinking about who to apply for?

Yeah, I mean, the future's uncertain, but if it looks like it's got a good trajectory, that's a good place to start.

I mean, there's a lot of information available to people.

And I was surprised years ago, one of my colleagues came and told me that he was leaving and joining another recruiter, the small firm.

And I said, are you sure?

And I remember looking this firm up on Companies House and they were making losses.

And he said, oh, they're giving me shares.

And I said, well, look at their accounts, the shares aren't worth anything, are you sure?

And anyway, he ended up coming back.

But it was sort of interesting to me that he'd made these decisions without evaluating the financial health of the business.

And you can do that quite easily.

You can look up, I mean, in the UK at least,

publicly available information on companies is easy to access through CompaniesHouse.

So one question in my mind is how do you make good career decisions when you don't know what your end goal is, which is not unusual.

I mean, who doesn't?

Who does?

Is it reasonable to have an end goal?