How to Get Into Interim Management

Interim management is a field that’s getting more and more popular. According to the Interim Management Association, use of these specialists has grown by 93% since 2006. It’s not hard to see why: many businesses are facing times of uncertainty and massive change. Specialists in guiding them through this difficult period will naturally be in high demand.

As more people are exposed to the idea, we’re also seeing more entering the profession. It’s an attractive proposition. Rather than becoming a victim to uncertain economic climate, specialise in it, and make it your career!

That said, not everyone is a good fit for the demands of the job, and it can be difficult to get a foot in the door. Today’s guide will help strip away some of the mystery and help you on your journey into Interim Management.

Firstly, do you have the right skills?

You need to be a dedicated and ambitious independent worker: you’ll have no permanent colleagues, and no structure guiding your development but the need to stay at the forefront of knowledge and expertise so you can continue to provide value. This means you need to motivate yourself to keep researching and reading between jobs, and swapping insights with contacts. You also need to be a good communicator: clear but diplomatic, as you’ll often be upending established processes and even recommending redundancies. It’s important to convey your ideas quickly, as you work, by definition, under pressure to deliver, but you also need to be sensitive to the people you’re talking to and achieve change by persuasion rather than force.

Secondly, getting jobs is a challenge. Once you’ve been working for a while, a record of success and endorsements from businesses will help to sell your services, but in the beginning you need more help. Establishing a relationship with a specialised executive search agency is helpful, as they are the first point of call for businesses looking for the service you provide.

It’s vital to point to a previous record of expertise in this area, so if you have previous consultancy work that’s helped a business transition through a difficult period, or have come off a project in a more traditional business where you’ve helped them pivot into a new market, talk about this front and centre. Experience like that is your qualification for work as an Interim Manager, rather than a CV of traditional office work, however impressive.