The key questions a client should ask a prospective ‘Interim Specialist’ when selecting a suitable, potential ‘Interim Candidate’ is :-

1) Are they a specialist service or merely an ‘add-on’ to a permanent recruitment or management consultancy ? How long has the service been operating ? 2) How many successful Interim Executive Management’ placements have been made? What level and in which industries? Over how long and across which functions? 3) What particular process of selection is used – typically from a ‘hand-picked’ register or a database of unseen candidates? 4) Do they actually meet the clients and develop an assignment brief for identifying candidates? 5) Do they offer numerous C.V’s or do they specifically identify only one or two candidates? 6) Do they in fact know their candidates and if so, how well? 7) Would the potential candidates be fully briefed before an interview and do they attend the interview meeting? 8) How much control / supervision do they have once the assignment has started and do they ‘audit’ the assignment on completion? 9) Would there be a possibility of talking to past clients and does the’ provider’ have preferential supplier status with reputable companies? 10) Finally, how much responsibility does the ‘Interim Provider’ take for deciding upon who carries out the assignment ?

The overriding factor in the success of an ‘Interim Assignment’ is the specific identification of the best available and most suitably matched ‘Interim Manager/Executive’ from the pool of top talent. Often the choice is limited, in view of the significance of these assignments. This is further found difficult by the fact that the ‘Interim’ is required A.S.A.P for an enquiry, not in several month’s time. Immediate full time availablilty of the chosen candidate is almost always a pre-requisite. However there remains much confusion on how best to actually ‘source’ a Senior Interim Executive. Whilst the awareness of ‘Interim Management’ is growing, the critical related service of it’s provision is still a mystery to many, particularly to new users.

The long-term success of ‘Interim Executive Management’ can be seriously jeopardized without a better understanding from clients as to how best they can source a ‘Senior Interim Manager.’ For example from findings from a ’Mori’ pole of Captains of Industry study indicated that only 40% would contact a ‘Specialist Provider. Many would prefer to trust from their own network of contacts whilst others would contact Management Consultancies, even though many of them do not offer specialist provision.

A respected specialist provider would attract all potential high quality executives for a role, they would accurately ‘filter’ new talent and have a successful track record of launching new ‘Executive Interims’ on their first assignment. They would have an ‘ in-depth’ knowledge of the vast majority of quality, practising interims in the U.K, which would be around 1,000 and would be able to refer to a ‘clutch’ of proven, exclusive interims who have previously worked for the ‘Provider’ and are well-known to them. Finally, they would fully understand a client’s ‘Interim’ requirement and have a successful track record of launching new ‘Interim Managers’ on their first assignment. They would have an in-depth knowledge of the vast majority of quality practising interims in the U.K, which would be around 1,000 and would be able to refer to a ‘clutch’ of proven, exclusive interims who have previously worked for the provider and are well-known to them. Finally they would fully understand a client’s ‘Interim’ requirement and have a track record of matching precisely and often innovatively against an agreed ‘brief.’

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