More HR people are turning to interim management as a career path, stimulated by the challenge and variety of roles. Employers, too, can benefit from an HR professional who can hit the ground running – and deliver results

Eleven years ago, Kathryn Riley decided to turn her back on a full-time HR career in favour of becoming an interim. The decision, she says, was prompted by the feeling that HR in many organisations was too similar and did not focus on the issues that really matter to her, such as organisational development and managing the softer people management issues.

“I wanted to be able to concentrate on what I really liked doing,” she says. “Being an interim gives me variety and the ability to turn HR functions around. I really wanted that challenge.”

But interim management is only one strand of what Riley does. As well as experience as a senior HR interim at organisations such as Orange and Network Rail, she has developed her own consultancy, advising organisations on strategic HR, among other issues, and running workshops for organisations on becoming more ethical. Alongside this, she coaches and mentors professionals from HR and other disciplines who are looking to move into general management.

This kind of portfolio career is becoming increasingly common for HR interims, particularly at the senior end of the profession. “People are moving towards plural careers,” says Charles Russam, chairman of Russam GMS, citing interims who also take up non-executive directorships and positions at business schools.

Raj Tulsiani, vice-chair of the Interim Management Association and chief executive of Green Park, agrees. “We are now seeing the portfolio mentality in executives,” he says. “If you are a very senior group HRD and you are going independent, interim will be part of what you do. Board-level interims are increasingly talking about board-level ­careers, such as taking up non-executive roles.”

The reasons why people move into interim and portfolio careers vary. Russam suggests that pressure “underneath” from ambitious HR professionals seeking promotion can drive some senior people towards a different type of career, while a lower-than-desired pension and the need to work for longer can be another incentive.

A wish to broaden horizons, including moving overseas, can also prove to be the trigger. As Michael Dickmann, professor of international HRM at Cranfield University School of Management, points out: “The CIPD is well regarded internationally and, if a senior HR professional has experience of working for multinational companies, there is a market for them in places such as the Middle East and Nigeria, for example. I know a married couple who work as HR interims in Cyprus just because they fancied leaving England.”

Portfolio power
According to Dickmann’s colleague at Cranfield, senior research fellow Noeleen Doherty, becoming an interim manager can be a useful step for HR professionals in building a portfolio career. “The experience of a wide range of work contexts provides breadth in understanding and knowledge and the prospect of operating at a strategic level,” she says.

Conversely, one of the advantages of a portfolio career is the opportunity to do other work when the interim projects are thin on the ground, and the competition for work is greater, as has been the case since 2007.

Senior HR interim and reward specialist Jane Williams decided to become an interim 15 years ago and, having experienced a quiet period, she has taken up a position on the board of a charity as a volunteer and undertaken a qualification with the Institute of Directors to become a chartered director. She also does consultancy work on executive remuneration. While not wanting to move fully towards a portfolio career, she says: “This year has been a quieter one for me, so I’ve gone off and done other things.”

Riley has also experienced “fallow periods”, but points out that she takes advantage of such time by using it for networking and marketing herself. “About 60 per cent of my work comes from networking,” she says. “For those people who are not net­workers, interim management is not for them. You also have to understand what your brand is. You are effectively selling yourself.”

Ad van der Rest, professional HR interim and co-chairman of the Institute of Interim Management (IIM), adds: “Whether the market goes up, down or sideways, effective and well-marketed interims will get work. Fretting about the market is less important than having a sharp and compelling personal offering.”

Specialist skills
Such a personal offering has often focused on specialist skills – change-related assignments and specialist project requirements still lead the charge for HR interims, making up 64 per cent of assignments, according to the IIM’s Interim Summer Survey.

However, interims are still required for gap cover. Yell Group employs the majority of its HR interims to cover maternity leave and, in the recruitment team, they are used when the team needs to upscale or downscale. “I use interims because I need to flex my workforce, especially with the economy as it is currently, and the fact that we don’t know what is around the corner,” says head of national resourcing Andrew Groves.

He also points out that interims often come with more experience than is required for the position, specifically so employers can feel confident that their projects will be achieved comfortably.

“We are upfront with them and tell them that while some of the work might be below their experience level we will seek to grow the role as it develops,” he says. “Interims are usually happy with that.”

The personal offering of the HR professional moving to an interim or portfolio career will not be based solely on their HR skills – specialist or generalist – but should also include character traits, such as being realistic about the nature of the work they have taken on and a degree of mental toughness.

“You must be prepared for a period without working, mentally, financially and emotionally,” Williams says, adding that, recently, it has become increasingly common for employers to invite interims to interview and then decide at the last minute not to hire anyone.

Riley agrees: “I only get seriously enthusiastic about a piece of work when an offer is on the table. Before the econ­omic crisis, the process of a company approaching an interim, interviewing and putting an offer on the table would take 24 hours. Now it can drag on for weeks.”

But once that project is agreed, the interim has to hit the ground running. They must know the organisation and quickly adapt to its culture. They need to be politically sensitive and must engage a wide range of stakeholders. And, most importantly, says Riley, they have to deliver “come what may”.

“You can have [personal] crises going on and you have got to be able to deal with them,” she says. “You can’t just not turn up – the client is paying you to deliver.”

A successful interim will also aim to deliver more than the employer’s mandate. As van der Rest says: “Organisations want the brief delivered, but, beyond that, professional interim managers will want to build solutions that last, because their reputation and future testimonials rely upon it.”

“If the client has selected well, the interim should not only deliver the mandate, but add something as well,” Riley agrees. At the organisation she is doing a project for, she also coaches and mentors staff.

Interim work is clearly not the easiest of options. As many in the sector have remarked, it’s a lifestyle choice. But it’s one that can open doors for professionals who want to expand their skills and experience for a portfolio career.

And, as van der Rest points out, while it may not be the life for everyone, for those who master the vocation “it is an invigorating and stimulating exercise”.  

How to manage an HR interim successfully

Know you want an interim
“A lot of interims find the lack of professionalism from clients and providers frustrating,” says senior HR interim Kathryn Riley. “You can do a lot of preparation, travel to an interview, only to be told that they don’t actually want an interim.” She says employers should establish whether they really want an interim for a project and get the necessary budget and agreement in place before they start the recruitment process.

Communicate your mandate
Clients must understand and communicate exactly what they want from an interim and in what time frame, says Riley. Senior HR interim Jane Williams agrees: “Establishing the working relationship is important, as is setting the objectives,” she says.

Have a formal induction
Head of national resourcing at Yell Group, Andrew Groves, believes it’s essential that employers looking to recruit an interim get the planning right before they start. “Induct an interim like you would a new permanent employee,” he says. “Interims at Yell get two weeks’ induction during which they learn about target markets, clients, how the organisation works, and more, to build them up to the role. If you don’t get this preparation right, they don’t get the results.”

Establish effective working relationships
The right atmosphere and tone needs to be set with the rest of the HR team, Williams says. “You want a relationship that is strong enough to withstand professional disagreements,” she says. “We need to realise more that by understanding different views, higher quality solutions may be found.”
Make sure the interim leaves a legacy

Carrying out a debrief before an interim leaves an organisation is essential. “I’m always highly surprised when that doesn’t happen,” Riley says. “An interim can provide you with valuable insights, skills and experiences. Ensure you make the most of this before you say goodbye.”

• The Institute of Interim Management has conducted annual surveys of its membership since 2005.he Interim Management Association represents recruiters of interims.

By Mary Carmichael

Interims have been perceived as many things – consultants by another name, retirees in search of a purpose, permanent managers who are ‘between jobs’ and even destroyers of business culture and employee morale.

But for canny HR and resourcing directors, these terms are simplistic: those who have learned to make the right decisions on interim managers find good ones can be key to steering an operation through choppy waters, driving a successful business to even greater heights, or turning a struggling one around.

Interim managers' assignments vary. They are often brought in to fill a position on a temporary basis - to cover maternity or sick leave, for example - or to manage a division the company plans to sell. They might be hired to identify and oversee a specific project, as a troubleshooter for an acute problem, or to add support during a significant period of change and growth.

Most often, they are there to advise on and/or implement change - redundancies, perhaps, integration, a recruitment drive or the launch of a fresh initiative. Interim specialists agree about 90% of assignments involve change management in some form.

Jason Atkinson, Managing Director (private sector) at interim provider, Russam GMS, and chairman of the Interim Management Association (IMA), says there can also be even more strategic reasons for going down the interim route: "When a company wants to do something new and knows a competitor has done it and done it well, they might come to us to find someone who has worked for that competitor."

An interim manager's most obvious advantage is expertise. Often, they are considerably over-qualified for the position and have solved the same problem or dealt with the same situation many times before. It is a level of experience and knowledge a company might not be able to afford on a permanent basis, but a properly structured assignment can deliver many of the same benefits.

But they also offer other plus points, including speed - they can be in situ within days - and objectivity. Not being part of company politics and with no axe to grind, they can offer an alternative perspective.

They also bring energy. A good interim can energise an existing team just by being a dynamic presence with fresh ideas. "They have had successful projects and they come in with a real desire to have a positive impact," says Nathan Myatt, head of interim at recruitment consultancy Fresh Minds. "That brings in a lot of energy, which can help bring people along."

So what could make an HR director baulk at bringing in such an asset? Money is usually the main issue. Daily rates average just over £600, depending on the sector, but they can go as high as £1,200 for someone operating at the highest level on a global scale.

"The client might think: 'Crikey - that's a lot multiplied by 365', but it doesn't work like that," explains Charles Russam, chairman of Russam GMS, founder of the company in 1982. "Someone in a permanent position might cost the company £80k in salary, but company car, pension, holidays, medical benefits etc might bring that up to £130k or £140k. If you divide 200 - the average number of days worked a year - into that, you get about £700 a day. So the real cost is low."

Stephanie Campbell, director of interim management provider Veredus, suggests cost isn't the major factor here, anyway. "Rather than cost, you should look at value," she says. "A good interim adds value from day one. They're not working to the clock or getting involved in office politics and there's no training needed and no honeymoon period. They are just focused on completing the task in hand: they bring the expertise, because they have done it before and done it in spades."

Being an interim is not for the faint-hearted. There is no guarantee of continuous employment, the hours are long and they may be working far from home. And there's the uncertainty - how long the job will last? Will it be extended? Where's the next one coming from? And there's a lot asked of interims. They have to be able hit the ground running, work flat out and deliver quick wins. They can be professionally isolated and often face resistance.

This working life does not suit everyone - even those with the necessary knowledge and experience - and just about everyone involved in the industry is keen to stress interim work is different from doing the same role as a permanent employee. The mindset is different too. "Someone who is only doing a contract between permanent jobs has an eye continuously on the full-time opportunities," says Kevin Bishop, director of talent, development and resourcing at mining giant, Anglo American. "I want someone who is a professional interim and doesn't need others to run round after them."

Nevertheless, the latest recession has meant the leading providers being swamped with CVs, although only about 10% will be deemed suitable. "The test is to get them to set up their own limited company and complete two assignments using their own network," says Veredus's Campbell. "Then we know they're serious - and they know if they can make it as an interim manager."

Those who do make it relish the constant challenge and the variety and want more control over working lives - not just flexibility over work, but also what work, with whom and at what pace - and these attractions mean the demographics have shifted. Where the profile of the typical interim was once a man in his late 50s who had final salary pension schemes, the average age has fallen considerably and many more women are now opting for interim work.

So what makes a good interim? "The real advantages of interims are adaptability and high emotional intelligence," says Campbell. "Technical knowledge is important, but you have to have people skills and sensitivity to the organisational culture."

With this high level of emotional intelligence, a good interim manager can assess a situation quickly and negotiate the potential minefield of employee resistance with diplomacy. John Parr, an interim HR specialist for 12 years, says employee uncertainty is a given in most assignments, but rarely a problem: "People are expecting change and they know you're there for a purpose, so they are part of the way there. They know you are not there to manage the status quo."

Interim managers are generally more hands-on than consultants and implement strategic decisions. They also leave legacies, transferring and infusing skills and knowledge to incumbent teams, even helping to hire and embed some permanent employees.

Kate Mansfield, manager of the HR practice of Alium Partners, which focuses exclusively on senior-level interims, believes the best interims are emotionally independent: "They are exceptional at managing stakeholders, but are thinking about their exit strategy from day one," she says.

So, how does an HR director formulate an effective strategy and how do they make each assignment work at optimum level? Not surprisingly, there is general consensus that planning, preparation and communication are key.

"The assignment has to start with a careful written brief and with frequent reviews, so both parties can take stock," says Russam. "Have regular formal meetings. The important thing is to make sure there's complete alignment and for the interim to check, 'am I delivering?'"

Fresh Minds' Myatt believes HR directors have to be clear about what they want - and seek input from other stakeholders. "They need first to define the end result," he says. "They need to be clear about what they want to achieve and they must also get buy-in from different management teams."

Raj Tulsiani, CEO of Green Park Interim and Executive Search, recommends devoting at least the final two days to a detailed handover - and planning this from the start. "The interim should be able to provide each incumbent in the relevant team with a blueprint for the next six months," he says.

Even when the assignment is clearly defined, finding the right person is absolutely crucial - and that is where many companies call in a specialist interim provider. These are not just about recruiting the interim managers, but also about providing support.

"That doesn't get mentioned enough," says Russam. "Some clients are sceptical when they learn the cost of the recruitment part of the deal, but they don't see the discussions with the interim on a Sunday. We offer a useful sounding-board. Most jobs will have difficult phases and we let them talk about issues."

IMA's Atkinson adds: "There has to be a high rate of cultural fit, which comes down to really knowing the organisation and the interims.
"The acid test is that the interim should be part of the team within a week - bolted in, not on."

BIE, an interim provider that operates exclusively at senior levels, is offering a different approach to some clients to develop pre-screened 'talent pools' to resource the ebb and flow of an organisation's needs. This means that, while the interim provider cannot guarantee specific people will be available - no good interim is going to sit around and wait on the off-chance - they can guarantee the skill-set and type of person.

"You are not starting from scratch," says BIE marketing manager, Andy Turner. "The approach works best in sectors undergoing a lot of change and real complexity [such as financial services]. One thing we are not able to do with any great certainty is to predict demand and, with this way of working, we know client X is going to need Y over the next two years."

Atkinson believes HR directors can get even more from clever use of interims and predicts a shift in approach in the future. "We challenge firms now, telling them they should have at least one interim on each management team; someone who can shake things up," he says. "Many management teams have been together for a long time.

"It is not just about tackling a crisis or a problem, it's also about thinking more strategically - how can we tap into their knowledge and knowhow for a short space of time? How can we use it to think a bit differently about it?"

The stopgap can be fruitful.

Case Study: Anglo American
Kevin Bishop has been using interims successfully for 10 years, four of these in his current role as director of talent and resourcing at mining giant, Anglo American.

The company, which employs 200,000 people around the world, uses interims for short- and medium-term capability, to backfill temporarily and for discrete projects: "Basically, it is for whenever we need instantaneous brains on projects that have a clear start and stop and for which we don't have the internal resources," explains Bishop.

He highlights two examples of successful interim-managed projects - the relocation of a business from South Africa to Brazil and the integration of a graduate programme. "When looking at how workforce planning for the next four or five years has had an impact on graduate numbers, we realised we had multiple entry points and ought to take stock - and needed an outsider to fly around the world talking to everyone," he says.

Bishop approached a specialist interim provider and met two possible interims. "The one we went for joined immediately, spent three months on the work and delivered a really good project, one that we still use now," he says.

Bishop says the key is being clear about what it is you want - and being prepared to pay for experience. He is blunt about the consequences of not doing this: "If you don't, if you see it as some sort of cost-saving exercise, you won't get what you need."

From the interim horse's mouth
Tony Morgan is a professional interim finance director, with 10 years and 23 assignments under his belt. He has worked predominantly with standalone SMEs, mostly with severe cashflow or other issues, and is generally brought in by the owner or the board. He has also experienced being imposed upon a reluctant company by venture capitalists.

"There is never an interim situation that isn't difficult," he says. "It is why our rates are high. I have to grasp the financial position quickly and get the confidence of the owner or board or directors - they have to believe I can help them. And the SMEs I work in have often been built up by entrepreneurs from scratch, so they're not ordinary people."

His recommendations for clients approaching interim hires are equally valid for HR directors - know what you want and get the right person. However, he highlights the importance of getting references. "These should be from people who they have done interim work for," he says. "Don't base it on full-time references - interim management is a totally different thing.

"Make sure they are true interims, not just someone who has been made redundant and is looking for a full-time opportunity. Don't advertise for an interim yourself. Go to specialist agencies. You have to pay the extra, but if you get the wrong person it costs you a lot more."

Getting an interim up to speed on your organisation is the first job for employers
They’re often referred to as the troubleshooters of the management world, parachuted in during periods of change. But how do you get the best out of your interim managers, asks Nic Paton

They may be little more than a snapshot of how the economy is evolving, but the latest figures from the Interim Management Association (IMA) on the changing use of interim managers nevertheless tell an interesting story of supply and demand.
The quarterly figures published in September found interims coming back into favour in the private sector while, conversely, demand for freelance executives and turnaround specialists within a public sector struggling to justify all and any spending has now slumped. Where the use of interims had been split pretty much equally in 2009, the split was now 61% to 39% in the private sector’s favour, with demand particularly strong within banking and finance, it concluded.
Whether it’s temporarily plugging a talent gap, delivering on a specific project, overseeing a restructuring process or simply driving forward organisational change, interim managers are, clearly, meeting a demand. Private sector organisations enjoy the flexibility of being able to harness a ‘turn on/turn off’ resource that also potentially brings in new skills and perspectives unable to be found internally.

Effective interims
Yet, given that an interim will often be coming in to push through tough decisions (and all at an expensive daily rate), getting the most out of them and working with them effectively has to be a priority. It’s definitely not a case of ringing up an agency and leaving them to it, says Raj Tulsiani, chief executive of interims agency Green Park and vice-president of the IMA.
“There should be shared responsibility and a clear outline of what the mandate needs to be. The key thing is around goal setting and communicating how you want those goals to be delivered,” he explains.
“As an interim, you will bring new skills, new horizons and new ‘stretch’ to situations. But it is very important to have a mandate of what you are there for,” agrees long-time interim manager Celia Adams, who specialises in corporate turnarounds.
You need to be making sure everyone is benefiting from the expertise of the interim, which in turn can help to accelerate the work and mean the interim can bring the permanent team with them. The interim is not there to take over the world.
Jason Atkinson, managing director, Russam GMS
“Whether you are just covering a maternity leave or overseeing a major turnaround, it needs to be clear,” she adds.
An interim will be expected to hit the ground running and be focused on the outcomes of their specific project, but will also normally bring with them a wealth of senior-level experience, often from across a range of sectors, that can be tapped into by subordinates, peers or, indeed, the senior management team.

Definite dynamics
“With those above you, it is a case of simply getting relationships going and ideas into their minds. It is about building up a rapport and developing their confidence. But you do quite quickly need to work out the dynamic of the organisation you are going into.
“With people reporting into you, it is important quickly to be working out what makes them tick. You may need to build their confidence in you and help them to understand what you and they have to do,” Adams explains.
People skills should be a core competency of any good interim, as should be an ability to mentor and coach people as well as prioritise succession planning, as an important part of the role will normally be preparing the ground for their eventual replacement.
“The key thing is always to be engaging with people, to be talking, listening and getting people aligned to the objectives. Unlike a consultant, an interim manager will have some ‘skin in the game’, they will be there for three, four months or however long the assignment is. They can provide the knowledge to help you get to a better place in your career,” explains Andrew Munro, director of the Institute of Interim Management.
But there may also need to be an element of reassurance – from both the management team and interim – around why they have been “parachuted” in, concedes Perry Evans, director of interims agency RSA Interims.
“You do not want the permanent individual to be thinking, ‘this person wants my job’. The interim will have ‘been there, done that’ so they will have the empathy to go in with their eyes open and court the right people to get the job done.
“They can bring expertise in from outside, sometimes from completely outside the industry. That can be a massive factor; when you are not embroiled in the politics or the culture you can often bring a fresh perspective,” he explains.
Working with an interim manager needs to be learning process for both sides, but a directed one, contends Jason Atkinson, managing director at agency Russam GMS and chairman of the IMA.
It is important to identify some “quick wins” but also to set out agreed, deliverable timescales and have a proper exit path for completion of the project and the transfer of skills.
“You need to be making sure everyone is benefiting from the expertise of the interim, which in turn can help to accelerate the work and mean the interim can bring the permanent team with them. The interim is not there to take over the world,” he says.

How to get the most from your interim manager
1. Be clear about when (and why) you need external resource/assistance. Interim managers offer a specialist resource, so make sure you need this level of expertise.
2. Have an ideal candidate in mind and have a clear brief about what you need the interim manager to do.
3. Don’t spend ages deciding who to appoint - the best interims tend to get snapped up quickly, so you need to respond to good ones as soon as you have made your choice.
4. Remember, interims have no ties. Because interim managers don’t have emotional ties to the company they can speak openly about what it should do to achieve its goals. They can tell it like it is, so don’t be afraid to ask.
5. Agree the aims, deliverables and timescales of the assignment at the outset so that both parties know what objectives they are working to.
6. Make the first days really count. As soon as the interim manager signs the contract they have five working days to understand the role and client requirements, the work involved and the deliverables. They must deliver by day six, so ensure they understand your needs from the start.
7. Reassure permanent members of staff that interim managers are not a threat. Also don’t make pay comparisons to permanent staff. Their daily rate may be higher, but will not include pensions, benefits, holidays or the security of regular employment.

Increase in older managers choosing interim roles as second career
The number of people becoming interim managers as a second career after retirement is expected to rise following the end of default retirement age, a specialist provider has said.
Interim manager recruitment firm, Russam GMS, has already noticed a rise in the number of people in their mid to late fifties who are turning to the role as a second or third career.

The firm’s latest six-month snapshot market survey of 12,000 interim managers showed that more than half were in their fifties. People in this age group also attract the highest daily pay rate, £628, compared with younger managers.

From 1 October, employers will no longer be able to force people to retire when they reach 65, meaning the growth of older workers considering interims posts could increase further.

“Many senior executives who have retired from their first careers, or who have been made redundant, are coming into interim management,” said Charles Russam, chairman of the recruitment firm.

“Age prejudice doesn’t exist in this area because it is a meritocracy where experience and knowledge are valued highly, and the best candidate will always get the job. Maturity is also important because it tends to stop silly mistakes being made.”
But he warned that such posts were “not for the faint-hearted” and better suited to people who relished the challenge of running a small business. However, many that considered this as a second career chose it because it offered them flexibility.
Paul Simmons, a former regional director at Barclays Bank, has recently made the move into interim management after retiring in 2009 at the age of 54. He combines his interim work in banking with being a business mentor and a trustee of a local charity.
Simmons said: "When I retired from my position at Barclays, I still wanted to be involved in business life and to make use of the skills and knowledge I had developed over the years.”
He said that while he has three posts, he is in control of his time and limits work to two-and-a-half days a week.
Russam said: “Many older interims still want to work intensively on assignments, but also want downtime to pursue other interests – they are looking for a different way of working and a better balance. Interim management offers new challenges, good pay, greater flexibility and, for many people, a new lease of life.”

Guest blogger: Diane Morris, director of Interimwomen
Unfortunately, the Interim Management industry is still male dominated. According to interim provider Russam GMS – only around 20 per cent of the women on its database of 12,000 interims are women and this broadly reflects the picture in the industry as a whole.
We recently surveyed 1,600 women working as interims to find out why they became interims and based on our findings, we produced an in-depth report, ‘Women in Interim Management – how to succeed, the opportunities and challenges,’ which offers an insight into the realities of an interim career.
The research highlighted that the top drivers for women leaving behind their permanent careers to become interims were the desire to work for different clients in diverse industry sectors, the attraction of working for themselves and the wish to have greater career flexibility in their working lives. And, in spite of the fact that women in interim management command an average of £604 per day, money was not a major motivator.
The women gave some straight talking advice and practical tips to ‘would be’ interims which I want to share with you. These tips were inspirational and motivating but at the same time, very practical and realistic – providing a true ‘warts and all’ insight. Here are a few of my favourites:

• Take a long time to make your decision and consider all your options.  Make sure you have a financial cushion of at least a year’s outgoings before you take the plunge
• Talk with as many other interim managers as you can to get a good ‘feel’ for what being an interim is like.
• Prepare a business plan
• Be flexible and ready to learn new skills
• Apply for lots of credit before starting – sort mortgage etc – because it will take 2 years to build up the credit rating again. Register for VAT before making any purchases
• Make sure you can deal with the uncertainty of the work and cash flow – some people can’t and permanent employment is a better option for them
• Present yourself as a complete professional, Meet and get registered with the main Interim Management  agencies and have a clearly defined service offer
• Do your homework before deciding to make sure it is the right career choice for you i.e. – What benefits will you bring to a client?  – What are your strengths? – What are your needs? – Is there a market for what you have to offer? – Do targeted networking and spread the word about what you do
• You need to be able to be self motivated and get on with the job of generating business – even though you may not always feel like it. Ensure you have a good network of contacts – join Linked-in
• Once you are sure this is what you want to do stick at it and don’t give up

What was striking about the research findings was the discovery that the average female interim manager had an impressive 22 years’ business experience under her belt before starting her Interim career. There is evidently a pool of seasoned and experienced executives out there, who can provide businesses with specialist skills and fill in senior level gaps, undertake strategic business projects, or help them solve their toughest business challenges.
For the full report visit http://www.interimwomen.com/documents/IWFinalReport.pdf