Interim leadership, live in weeks
Cover that starts before the search finishes
A seat that stays empty costs more than the person who fills it. Interim is how you keep decisions moving while you take the time to make the permanent appointment properly.
What interim is
An operator, not a placeholder
The mistake with interim is treating it as a holding pattern - someone to keep the lights on until the real hire arrives. The people worth bringing in are the ones who will have changed something by the time they leave.
Interim executives are professional operators who choose this way of working. They are used to walking into a function they did not build, forming a view quickly, and being judged on what moved rather than on how long they stayed. They come without internal history and without a stake in whose decision it was.
That makes them useful in exactly the situations a permanent hire struggles with - the first ninety days after a sudden departure, an integration nobody has bandwidth for, or a function that needs an honest assessment before you decide what to recruit for.
Where interim fits
Interim solves a timing problem, not a budget problem
Use interim when
- Someone has left suddenly and the function is exposed now, not next quarter
- A permanent search is running and the gap in the middle is the real risk
- There is a defined piece of work - an integration, a turnaround, a system change - with an end date
- You need an honest assessment of a function before you decide what to recruit into it
- Maternity, illness or sabbatical cover at a level where a temp will not hold the room
- You want to see the role work in practice before committing to a permanent headcount
Use something else when
- The appointment is permanent and sets direction for years - that is a search
- You are still deciding whether the role should exist - start with research
- You are lifting in several people at once - see team moves
- You are using interim purely to avoid a headcount approval - the day rate will find you out
- The work is execution at a level where a contractor or agency is the honest answer
How an interim brief runs
Four stages, compressed - because the point of interim is speed
Scope the gap
[CONFIRM: typical turnaround]One conversation, not a briefing process. What has to keep running, what has to change, what the interim has authority to decide, and when the assignment ends. Interim briefs go wrong when the scope is left open, so we pin the end point at the start.
Shortlist from a known network
[CONFIRM: typical time to shortlist]Interim does not work off a cold market map - it works off people whose track record is already known. You get a short list of operators who have done a comparable assignment, with a clear read on availability and what they will cost.
Meet, select and contract
[CONFIRM: typical duration]One round of meetings in most cases, two at the outside. We handle rate negotiation and the contracting arrangement so the start date does not slip on paperwork. [CONFIRM: Nick to confirm the IR35 and contracting model before this sentence is finalised.]
Land, review and hand over
Throughout the assignmentWe stay in the assignment rather than disappearing at the start date - structured check-ins with you and with the interim, and an agreed handover before they leave. An interim who walks out without transferring what they learned has only rented you time.
What you are left with
What the assignment gives you, beyond the cover
Speed to shortlist
[CONFIRM: the specific commitment - this is the core interim promise and it needs a number, not an adjective]
An assessment of the function
An outsider's read on what is actually working, written down. Often the most valuable thing the assignment produces.
Rate benchmarking
What the market is paying for this level of interim right now, so the rate you agree is informed rather than anchored on the first number.
Contracting handled
[CONFIRM: IR35 status determination, contracting model, and who carries the liability - do not publish this card until confirmed]
Assignment management
Scheduled reviews with both sides. If the assignment is drifting from scope, you hear it from us early rather than at the end.
A defined handover
An agreed exit before the interim leaves, so the permanent hire inherits context rather than starting from nothing.
Often paired
Most interim briefs run alongside a search
Interim buys you the time to appoint properly. If you are covering a gap and filling it permanently, we would rather run both than watch you rush the second one.
How search worksNext step
Tell us what has come loose
If the honest answer is that you need a permanent hire rather than cover, we will say so. Interim is worth doing when it buys you something - not as a way of postponing the decision.
Brief us on a gap