Ethics question

How long have you been there, and how long do people normally work there before leaving?
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Rory
6147

 Scooby,
You are responsible for your career, and exploring possibilities does not seem like a lack of loyalty to me.  If you take appropriate time off work to explore these opportunities, there is no harm done.  
Hope this helps,
-Brett

Scooby, I would go one step further and say that you have an obligation to yourself, and anyone else who depends on your either being happy or solvent, to manage your career. This means you should be in the best job possible to exploit your skills and talents, as well as having a credible escape plan if and when things ever go south. All of the above should be tempered by a mid term plan and consistency in you CV.
Whilst it beholds all of us to be discrete, in my experience, employers are willing to hang on to good employees even if they know that they have investigated other avenues.
The final piece of MT advise may be that in difficult times, if you decide to change jobs (and this is not the same as having the choice made for you..) you should only move to similar position in a stronger organisation, or a significantly better position in the case of a smaller organisation. You should also be careful not to jump ship if your current employer is going through a tough time, unless of course your position is at above average risk.
Furthermore a discussion with a potential employer is not a guarantee of either them offering you the job or you accepting it. To misquote Mark H, "until you have an offer, you ain't got nothing" 
For the record, I am in my current company for more than 9 years and my best employees are the ones I don't have to replace every 12 months :-)
Best Regards, Mark

This is not an ethics question. If they offered you 10,000 pounds to give them a contract, that's unethical.
Going to work for a business acquaintance, assuming there is not a major conflict of interest, it just a career management decision.
 

I agree with TOMW. As long as you haven't signed some sort of non-compete agreement, I don't see the conflict. One of our former senior managers whom I respect, used to listen to each offer. He didn't actively pursue them, but he didn't ignore the opportunity either.