Ten inside tips for interims - Working with a provider

Brought to you by www.malhamconsultancy.co.uk, providing talent with integrity

Like it or not, some interim providers are the first port of call for companies looking for Interim Managers. You are better off working with the good ones and using them as part of a wider marketing mix in your search for a new assignment. Here are ten inside tips on working with them, gleaned from 11 years as an Interim Provider.

Choose Wisely

This is the most important thing, which is why it is at the top – everything else flows from this. You need an interim provider with a strong reputation – not someone who has just decided to bolt on an interim service to their existing recruitment business or has discovered they can go on Linked In and call themselves “Head Of World Interim Provision” using the broadband connection in their back bedroom.

Experienced consultants move around – I have recently seen an entire team move from one major provider to another. We are not selling cornflakes so in our game big brands are only as good as the individual consultants representing them. You need to do some digging – who is the name that always comes up in your market? Who do your peers recommend? What assignments have they won in your market? Also, you need to know what you want – some people like a touchy feely consultant, others just like results, choose carefully.

Meet Them

I’ve never really understood how someone can represent you without meeting you, it also creates a great bond. If they don’t meet you what value are they adding? You should offer to visit their office to meet with them – don’t expect them to come out to meet with you – if they did that they would not have time to do what they do best which is trying to find you assignments. If you feel you can fit into their stable and they still won’t meet you then go back to point 1.

Befriend

I don’t mean have them round for dinner, but it is a lot easier to represent someone when you are getting along well. Sometimes (only sometimes) an interim will walk into our office acting the Big I Am and will expect the sort of relationship that previously their poor minions had to suffer from. It’s not master and servant, it’s a partnership.

Do Something Unusual To Stand Out

By this, I don’t mean send them a Gorillagram to tell them you are available. What I mean is send them something that they might not expect to receive, that will make them think of you and make you stand out from the pack. It could be an email or a card or a link to a website or a book. I recently had a delightful correspondence with one of my interims who had spotted on my website that I was a fan of Shackleton. Very soon after a role came in that was perfect for him and it saved a lot of time calling round. I am now eagerly awaiting my first Gorillagram.

Manage Your Own Expectations

A couple of uncomfortable truths. 1. They do not control the market, the rates or the assignments. 2. They will not always be able to find you an assignment – in fact the odds are stacked against this. I have had average people out working straight after our meeting (literally the same moment) and brilliant people sat on the shelf for months. There is little rhyme or reason to it. Ask your provider what marketing they do to win assignments and if there is anything you can do to help.

Legalities & Contract

Your interim provider needs to be on top of IR35, litigation and whatever else the government has thought up to hinder you. No excuses. If they can’t talk you through the contract and what it means then go back to point 1. This is their job – you wouldn’t get a baker saying he didn’t understand the recipe for bread. They should be able to point you in the right direction for anything interim related.

Incidentally, ask them the killer question “will I get paid even if you don’t”? That will never fail to make them feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Working Together On Assignment

Your interim provider needs to be batting for you all the way through the assignment. They should be in contact with you at least every fortnight and they should do the right thing by you if the assignment starts to go awry. It’s a two way street - you need to keep them informed of any major developments in the company and how it is all going – send them an email and tell them your achievements in bullet points that week. (if it looks like they are going into liquidation then you definitely need to let them know).

Stay In Touch

Keeping in touch is also a two-way street. You are quite right to berate a provider who does not return your calls or keep in touch (go back to point 1) but you should also not be shy in dropping them a brief text or email with your thoughts on the market and/or your availability. Keep it brief and punchy – if you are calling then tell them you are calling to keep in touch and let them know your availability.

Help Them Out

Ask them if you can do anything with your CV that might help them secure a role for you. Ask them if you would like to put a case-study together highlighting recent experiences and if they would like a profile. Let them know if you have any leads that you think would interest them.

Empathy

Some people think we light Cuban cigars with £50 notes waiting for our carriage home whilst counting the revenue our legions of interims have brought us that day. Maybe in 2006. Only joking. The truth is, everyone is working 3 times harder for 3 times less at the moment. Interim Providers are experiencing the pinch as much as anyone and as big Dave says "we are all in it together".

Scott Hutchinson is the principal consultant at Malham Consultancy Ltd, a company dedicated to providing high quality, bespoke interim management provision to the food & drink manufacturing industry.

Scott has personally recruited interim managers and senior executives for most of the UK’s premier food businesses including UB, Northern Foods, Coca-Cola, Tayto and Uniq, together with small and exciting businesses such as Bighams and Thatcher’s Cider.