Change management, restructuring and turnaround projects are the top three reasons interim managers are being hired by businesses, according to the bi-annual snap shot survey of 17,000 interim managers, from Russam GMS. Nearly half of all interims (46 percent) were recruited to run change and transformation projects, 17 percent of interims were hired for their specialist skills and just 7 percent to fill employment gaps – the more traditional use of interims. Demand for interims has risen in recent months, with 48 percent of interims on assignment, up from 45 percent in June last year and nearly returning to the pre-recession level of 2007, when 50 percent of interims were on assignment. Financial services firms, healthcare organisations and manufacturers are the top three interim employers and interim project managers are getting the most work, with a quarter of them on assignment, followed by finance specialists (14 percent) and general managers (12 percent).   

Jason Atkinson, Managing Director, Russam GMS said: “Many organisations are in a state of flux, particularly in sectors like financial services where they are grappling with new regulation and compliance and working out how to maximise growth opportunities. Interims offer organisations immediacy, experience and flexibility and a low risk, affordable and high value way of delivering change and transformation.”

Steve Offord, an interim Transformation Director with 20 years’ experience who regularly works through Russam noted: “Increasingly, interims are being hired to run transformation projects, as the skills and experience required doesn’t tend to exist within the organisations.  I have been fortunate to work across the public and private sectors and over the years have seen a constant demand for my work.” Average daily pay rates for interims rose from £638 in June 2014 to £651 this year, a rise of 11 percent increase in five years, when pay was £579. However, pay rates for female interims at £567.25 a day lags considerably behind their male colleagues who are paid £662.64.

Pay also varies considerably by sector, discipline and region. Obviously, the best paid interims specialise in leadership and sit on boards (£858), then come the General Managers who are paid £827, then interim auditors at £785, closely followed by IT specialists who command £778 a day. The top three sectors for pay are Energy (£945) Financial Services (£804) and IT (£754). Bucking other economic trends, those working in central England are getting higher rates than those working in London and the South – £649 a day compared to £612. Interims who work overseas can command an average of £746 a day. The research also highlighted that interims in their 50s represent half of those on assignment; followed by interims in their 60s, who are 29 percent of the cohort and then interims in their 40s who make up 20 percent of the interim executives. There were very few interims on assignment in their 20 and 30s or 70s.

Many of the respondents consider themselves ‘career interims’, with 35 percent stating they wouldn’t take a permanent job and 20 percent stating they would take a permanent job, only if it was tempting enough. Debbie Britton, interim director of marketing and customer experience said: “I have operated as a client using a high proportion of interims in my team and as a senior level interim. The findings are very encouraging for anyone considering an interim career.  It would be fantastic to see even more women reaping the benefits of this kind of career, especially in the space of organisational transformation. The survey results have highlighted there is more scope for higher average pay rates for them too.”

Russam GMS is the longest established Interim Management Provider in the UK and has a 32 year track record of providing Interim Management, Project Management and Executive Search solutions, both here and internationally. Our human capital solutions across our clients’ businesses underpin our belief that ‘Who we find changes what you become’. The company is managed jointly by Jason Atkinson who also leads the private sector practice and Ian Joseph who look after the charity and not for profit business. Our mission is to be the outstanding provider in our markets which has been reflected in a number of recent recruitment industry awards including for being the UK’s ‘Best Interim Recruitment Provider’ – 2013, 2011, 2010 and 2009 and a recent reward as ‘Executive Search Firm of the Year’ 2014.

We have the broadest reach of any UK Interim Management Provider – with a core register of over 17,000 board level interims – as well as having deep and extensive connections with other types of candidates; so we can source thousands of senior executives across a range of disciplines and industry sectors. Our interims are board level executives working in Finance, Programme and Project Management, IT, HR, Compliance, Purchasing, Sales and Marketing, Turnaround, General Management and Change Management.