Bosses prefer to hire interims themselves

Mar 20 2006 by Nic Paton Print This Article

Top executives, rather than HR or recruitment specialists, tend to hire the majority of interim managers for their organisations, according to new research.

The survey by interim provider Robert Half Management Resources, has found that chief executives, chief finance officers, financial directors and partners hired between them around 29 per cent of interims.

Financial managers, controllers and project managers brought on board another 47 per cent.

And just 12 per cent of placements were made directly through the HR department.

"UK boards and top executives are responsible for hiring over three quarters of interims in the UK and this clearly demonstrates the important role interims now play in directing UK business," said Tim Hird, Robert Half executive director.

"Roles that have a financial element have traditionally led to the board getting involved in the hiring process and this has created an understanding among the upper echelons of the type of benefits interims can offer and has paved the way for this trend to develop," he added.

The pressure on financial departments just in terms of compliance was enormous at the moment, as people with the right experience and full-time availability were hard to find, he explained.

The survey found that 16 per cent of hires were for positions related to compliance, 20 per cent were employed to fulfil roles until a full-time hire was appointed, 13 per cent were involved in specific projects and 10 per cent employed as analysts to assess different markets or operations.

"Interim mangers have always been hired by vastly differing departments for a huge variety of roles and this research highlights the true spectrum within which they now operate," said Hird.