By John Wakeford, MD of HW Interim

The professional interim management market is enjoying rapid growth, driven by a burgeoning cycle of business transformation programmes across all industry sectors.

For a multitude of reasons, companies both large and small are increasingly turning to professional interim managers to help steer them through organisational change – with a particular drive for digital transformation and customer experience programmes.

They are looking for experienced business leaders who can also provide stability following the sudden departure of a senior director, or offer a highly specialised skill set which a business may not have in-house.

Their appointment is an effective way for a company to achieve business objectives and obtain highly specialised leadership skills at crucial times.

With this increasing demand, growing numbers of executives are making the move to interim management, attracted by the flexibility, remuneration and variety of roles they can add to their CV.

HW Interim provides experienced and talented interim and change management executives to PLCs, private companies, SMEs and private equity backed organisations both in the UK and overseas.

The key sectors we work in include Retail, Consumer and Financial Services, and the wide range of recent assignments we have completed have included interim CFO, FD, CTO, CMO, Supply Chain/Ops Director and Head of Risk.

Working alongside our executive search business with a team of dedicated and experienced researchers, we can turn round a shortlist of professional interim managers for a client within three working days who can typically be placed within two weeks. Completion rates are well over 90 per cent.

But given such client demand we are always looking for new talented candidates.

To give yourself the best chance of being considered for upcoming interim positions we would advise you do all of the following:

• If you are immediately available, say so on your LinkedIn page.
• Make sure your job title is clear and accurate.
• Ensure your CV and contact details are up to date.
• Get a limited company set up and arrange personal indemnity insurance.
• Answer the phone or call back if you are contacted by either us or a potential employer. Firms are often looking for interims to start immediately so if you don’t respond, we will quickly move on.
• Know your day rate and what you would accept.
• Connect yourself on LinkedIn to other people with the same skill set – you are more likely to be found.
• When you become available contact us. Easier than us trying to find you.

If you would like to discuss interim opportunities contact John Wakeford, MD of HW Interim, via his LinkedIn page, by emailing johnw@hwglobalpartner.com or by calling him on +44 (0) 113 243 2004 for an informal discussion.