A 20 year and counting, career at REED...

REED turns 60 on the 7th May and I was asked what does my 20 years of working for this great family company feel like? In one word, 'amazing'!  

I use the word amazing as, when I first applied to work for REED via an advert in a newspaper, yes, you heard me right, a newspaper (not the only thing that was black and white in those days), I knew very little about recruitment.  I couldn't envisage back then, growing my knowledge and career for one employer for such a long period of time and to be lucky enough to contribute to this great organisation for a third of its existence. I've got married and now have 3 lovely children within that time!

Looking back over my 20 years, I have worked my way from being a Temporaries Consultant in a small office in Hertford, which was comparable to a sweet shop (and, at that time, contained about as much technology as a sweet shop), to now leading the Talent Acquisition function for REED in our Head Office in Northampton. The career steps in between these positions included:

- delivering training at our beautiful Business School in the Cotswolds, as a Trainer

- managing my first office in Harlow, as a Business Manager

- building the business in our Islington office, whilst supporting five other offices in North London, Hertfordshire and Essex as an Area Manager.  

Each of these unique experiences offered me exceptional challenges and opportunities for personal and professional growth. 

Recruitment often takes you out of your comfort zone and you need resilience, a positive attitude and often a good dose of luck to succeed and, as the brilliant golfer, Gary Player, once said "...it's funny, the more I practice, the luckier I get..." Of course, like a golfer with a brilliant caddy, a strong team around you is also very helpful, which is why recruiting the right people is so important to you as an individual and also for the organisation!  

I have had the good fortune to work for and with some outstanding people who I have learned and still learning so much from. I thank them all for helping to shape my fabulous and enjoyable career at REED so far.

My time with REED has enabled me to enjoy all sorts of rewards and experiences and they're too numerous to list them all but the occasions in the private boxes at the Royal Albert Hall and Wembley do stand out in my memory, along with the charity climb to the roof of Africa, Kilimanjaro, in 2006. 

I've already experienced an 8 week paid sabbatical 10 years ago which coincided with another global crisis known as the credit crunch and, I'm lucky enough to have the prospect of another 8 week sabbatical now I've hit 20 years... right in the middle of this awful pandemic! Timing is everything as they say but I'll share with you what I get up to when I do finally schedule that time off.

I, rather arrogantly, thought that I'd seen most challenges in recruitment and so I'm now eating humble pie, whilst ensuring that my team and I are ready to support our business through sourcing and hiring for the positions that will drive REED forward for the next 60 years.  I hope someone lucky enough, like me, will step into one of these jobs and build their 20 year career with REED.