Great reviews won't save you from a hiring freeze.

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Career · Career

By Feras Asakrieh · 4 min read · Issue #45

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Last week I was sitting by the pool, waiting for my son to finish his swim lesson.

Feras in sunglasses and a black hoodie standing on the bleachers at an outdoor pool during his son's swim lesson

One of the other dads sat down next to me. We got talking. Kids, work, weekend plans. The usual.

Then he told me he's looking to leave his job.

Not because of his boss. Not because of the pay. Because of the company.

"It's not going to make it," he said. "I can see it already."

He wasn't bitter. He wants to do more. He wants to grow. He just looked at where the company is headed and knew it couldn't grow with him.

I drove home and couldn't stop thinking about it.

Because almost nobody I've worked with ever looked at their company the way he did.

We check everything else. Do I like my manager? Is the pay fair? Do I feel valued? Is my team any good?

We almost never ask the one question that decides all the others.

Is this company going to win?

Your Future Is Not Separate From Theirs

We act like our career runs on its own track. Like we can keep rising while the company sinks.

It doesn't work that way.

When I look back at the times I was stuck, it was rarely about me. It was "hiring is frozen." "Growth has stalled." "We're cutting costs across the board." Strong reviews, and nowhere to go.

The company stopped growing, so I stopped growing.

People are starting to feel this. Perceptyx tracked 20 million survey answers over ten years. Belonging and feeling valued were the top two things that kept people engaged from 2016 through 2024. In 2025 they dropped to the bottom. Confidence in senior leadership moved to the top.

That dad at the pool already knew it.

Why We Never Look

Nobody teaches you to read a company. They teach you to read a job.

Your review is about you. Your goals are about you. Your one on ones are about you. So when things stall, you assume the answer is you too.

And the story we tell ourselves sounds reasonable every time.

"I'm learning so much here." You are. You can also learn a lot on a ship that's taking on water.

"My boss loves me." Good. Your boss still can't approve a promotion the budget already killed.

"Every company has problems." True. But some problems are a bad quarter. Some are a bad direction.

"If I leave now, it looks like I'm running." Leaving a company that stopped growing isn't running. It's reading the room.

"It'll turn around next year." Maybe. That's what you said last year.

None of these are dumb. They're just all about you. And the thing deciding your next move isn't you.

Here Is How To Read Your Company

1. Read the numbers you already have.

You get more information than you think. Town halls. Quarterly updates. Earnings calls if you're public. Most people half listen and go back to email. Listen for three things instead. Is revenue up or down from last year? Is headcount growing or shrinking? What did leadership say about next year, in plain words? At your next all hands, write those three down and put them next to what they said last quarter. The direction matters more than the number.

2. Watch who is leaving.

Companies can spin a lot of things. They can't spin who walks out the door. When a company starts to slide, the strong people usually go first, because they have options and they see it early. Just like that dad at the pool. If three of the people you'd most want on your team left in the last six months, and nobody replaced them, that's not bad luck. That's a signal.

3. Ask the question out loud.

Most people never ask because it feels risky. It isn't. It sounds like someone who thinks like an owner. Ask your manager or your skip level: "What has to go right for us to win next year?" Then listen. A leader who can answer in two clear sentences has a plan. A leader who talks for five minutes and says nothing is telling you something too.

4. Ask the people closest to the customer.

Customers tell the truth before the numbers do. Sales, support, account managers, the retention team. They hear it months before it shows up in a town hall. Buy one of them a coffee and ask: "Are customers staying longer or leaving faster than last year?" If the answer is leaving faster and nobody upstairs is talking about it, you just saw next year's revenue.

5. Count what they build versus what they cut.

Every company cuts sometimes. That's normal. But a company that only cuts is managing a decline, not building a future. Look at the last five big announcements from leadership. How many were about building something new? A product, a market, a team, a tool. How many were about saving money? If it's five cuts and zero bets, the company has already told you where it thinks it's going.

Final Thoughts

That dad at the pool isn't smarter than the rest of us. He just asked the question most of us avoid.

For years I thought my career was about how hard I worked, how good my reviews were, how much my boss liked me. Those things matter.

But they all sit inside something bigger. And if that bigger thing stops moving, you stop too. No matter how good you are.

So yes, keep asking if you can grow here.

Just ask the other question first.

Is this place going to win?

P.S. If you read your company and the honest answer is no, the next step is an interview somewhere that is winning. I put together a free interview guide for exactly that conversation. You can grab it here.

You Can't Outgrow A Sinking Company

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