By Shannon Gabriel
According to the American Management Association, only 14% of businesses consider themselves “well prepared” to handle a sudden loss in senior management. Add to that the fact that it takes at least four months to fill an executive role, and that manufacturers stand to lose thousands of dollars per unfilled position, and it’s no wonder that the interim talent market is growing.
Like many manufacturers, you may be considering interim operations leaders as a way to fill a leadership gap and keep your business on track. At the same time, you take the time needed to search for a permanent replacement. But should you choose to go the interim talent route, you may be wondering, who, exactly, will you be putting at the helm of your business?
Here is what you need to know about the interim leadership talent pool.
According to Senior Management Worldwide, over half of interim talent is hired to provide top-level expertise in C-suite, general manager, or VP roles. The average age of an interim worker is 53 years old. So they are veteran experts, often with specific experience addressing the types of challenges your company faces. When you work with a partner like TBM Leadership Solutions, LLC—a partner that specializes in interim management services and that invests the time to carefully vet interim leaders for both technical and cultural fit—you can count on finding a temporary operations leader with the proven expertise you need.
A global market research and consulting firm, reports that special projects accounted for 35% of interim assignment in 2012. Beyond filing suddenly vacant positions, interim operations leaders can be an ideal solution for plant management, heading up a specific improvement project, or leading a lean transformation. Interim talent aquisition allow you to tap into very specific expertise for a pre-defined period of time without the need to invest in a long-term hire.
One of the key benefits of an interim leadership solution is that it allows you to fill a gap quickly. At TBM, we can typically have an experienced and capable interim leader in place within two weeks of your request. We can respond fast because we maintain a network of vetted, ready-to-go operational resources. Since your business risks losing ground every day a critical role goes unfilled, getting a qualified person on board fast is of the essence.
Most interim operations leaders work 200 days or less per year. At TBM, our interim leaders are available for periods of 30 to 180 days. Research shows that about a third of interim assignments last between 60 and 120 days.
If you work with a staffing solutions partner, you won’t have to worry about the administrative aspects related to your temporary hire. In other words, you get the expertise without all the paperwork. It also handles periodic reviews throughout the course of the placement to ensure your ongoing satisfaction.
Sometimes interim leaders are open to longer-term positions. In these instances, an interim leadership assignment can double as a working interview, giving you the opportunity to evaluate a candidate while he or she actually does the job and works within your environment and with your team. Let us know if ahead of time if you are interested in a “working interview”.
TBM´s Leadership Solutions, interim leadership solutions, maintains a talent pool that offers pre-identified, fully-vetted contingent labor resources. Read our recent infographic, Interim Talent: Your Solution to Operational Leadership Gaps, to find out more about the interim leadership trend and why it’s growing in the manufacturing sector.
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