Interim Executives? You Bet!
By Alia Torvik
From Healthcare to Technology, Government to Human Resources, interim executives are more common than you may imagine. In fact 11 percent of the temp workforce is made up of executives and professionals, according to the 2004 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For some it’s the freedom and flexibility of choosing projects and companies to work with, others may be unable to find permanent work, and yet, for some it’s a post retirement gig to keep busy after they close the main chapter in their professional career. Additionally, there is the excitement of working with new companies and facing varying challenges day to day.
While positions may be as short as a few months or as long as 2 years, the average contract for these “temps” lasts about 6 months at a rates as high as $2,000/ day without accounting for bonuses and other benefits such as health insurance for the duration of the project.
Who’s Hiring?
You may wonder why a company would want to hire an interim executive. Similar to the executives themselves, each company has a different reason for hiring temporary executives to fill these crucial roles within its organization.
The most common reasons for employing temporary executives range from the unexpected leave of a C-level executive, a position which may take as long as 18 months to fill appropriately. Other common reasons include launching new products or when a company is experiencing downsizing and reorganization.
Companies expect interim executives to dive right into the position without a lot of training and to act as a mentor to his or her coworkers throughout the period of the contract.
Becoming a Permanent Fixture
Even though the reason for hiring an interim executive is often to maintain stability while the company works towards finding a permanent replacement, sometimes the temporary executive becomes a permanent fixture within an organization.
This generally occurs under one of two circumstances; the first being that a company is impressed with the performance of an interim executive and wishes to keep him or her on board after the initial contract has expired. The second instance is when an interim executive is hired for a trial period in which he or she can see if the company is a place they would like to work full time and the company can see if the executive is right for the permanent position.
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