We were once asked to find an interim Manufacturing Director for a shopfitting business. The person in the role was due to have an operation and would be off work for around four months. The interim we placed had a real impact on the business almost immediately. As it turned out, the substantive Manufacturing Director decided to take early retirement following his operation, and the interim we’d found was appointed to the role permanently.
That’s interim management at its best, not just a stopgap, but a genuine opportunity to bring in real capability at short notice, sometimes with outcomes nobody quite expected going in.
It’s not always about the unexpected, though. We were also asked to find an interim Global Consolidation Consultant for an international marketing communications business operating across 24 countries, a business that had grown quickly through acquisition and was left with a real mix of currencies and accounting systems as a result. The business was about to implement a new, unified system, but first needed someone with the specialist knowledge to properly understand the current state of play globally and resolve a range of reporting and consolidation issues. In the time available, the interim we placed achieved exactly that, leaving the business genuinely ready to begin the new system implementation rather than starting it on shaky foundations.
Should interim management be your first call?
We want to be honest about where bfpeople fits here. Interim management isn’t our main specialism, the way it is for some dedicated interim firms, and we’re not the right people to call if you need someone in place tomorrow.
Where we do add real value is when you have a defined gap, and you want it filled properly rather than filled fast. If you can allow a couple of weeks to get the right person, not just an available one, that’s exactly where we’re strong.
That’s because we bring the same approach to interim placements that we bring to permanent search: proper assessment, not just a CV match. Understanding someone’s likely style and approach matters just as much for an interim appointment as a permanent one, arguably more, since you need to know quickly how they’ll operate and what to watch for, without the luxury of months to find out.
How the process works
Our interim process is a quicker version of our full search process, not a different one. We draw on our existing database, our network, and immediately available candidates, then I interview and assess every candidate personally before putting forward a shortlist of two or three for you to meet.
Both of the projects above took around two weeks from initial briefing to the interim starting work.
Once someone’s in place, we work with established, reputable specialist firms to handle the practicalities, contracts, payroll, and invoicing, so you’re not left managing that administrative burden on top of everything else.
Is interim management right for you?
Interim management suits almost any role where an organisation needs experienced capability on a temporary basis, commonly leadership gaps, change and turnaround situations, major projects, or a specific functional need, finance, operations, manufacturing, that requires real expertise while a permanent solution is found.
If you’ve got a defined gap and want it filled properly, get in touch, we can talk through whether interim management is the right solution and how quickly we could realistically have the right person in place.
