About James

James Reed CBE is the Chairman and CEO of REED – Britain’s biggest and best-known recruitment brand and the largest family-owned recruitment company in the world.

James is a regular media commentator on work and labour market issues, with recent appearances including BBC News, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and The Apprentice. He has contributed insight to a wide range of publications including the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and the Sunday Times.

James is also a best-selling author of three books, Why You? 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again, The 7 Second CV, and Life’s Work.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). James lives in London with his wife Nicola and their six children.

About REED

REED was founded in 1960 by James’s father, Sir Alec Reed, and is now a global recruitment company, with more than 3,000 employees working in 140 locations around the world.

James first joined the company in 1992 after graduating from Harvard Business School. Since then REED has become a billion pound business and reed.co.uk – the first of its kind, established in 1995 – is the UK’s #1 job site.

REED receives 50 million job applications every year, and has helped more than 150,000 long-term unemployed people back into work. James was appointed Chief Executive in 1997 and Chairman in 2004.