In the modern-day workplace, it can be hard to retain your most valued employees. Even with a stellar organizational culture and competitive compensation package, it may not be enough to keep your high performers from exploring outside employment opportunities or being lured away by competitors.

In the event of a sudden director, VP, or C-suite departure, is your organization prepared to fill the void quickly? With pressing business needs at hand, it may be impossible to find a suitable long-term replacement in a shortened recruiting window. However, by aligning with an interim executive placement and executive search firm, you can discover a suitable short-term replacement while buying more time to complete a thorough search process for your next full-time hire.

Learn About Our Interim Executive Placement Services

Here are some reasons why bringing on an interim director, VP, CEO, or other executive-level resource could make sense for your organization:

Easing anxieties

If a critical decision-maker accepts a new position outside your company, this could send your organization into a state of panic if the timing is not ideal. To quell these concerns, engaging an interim placement firm to find a short-term replacement is critical to restoring calm within your company—or with external clients—to minimize the potential damage caused by their departure.

A simple short-term commitment

By engaging with an interim executive, your organization won’t be locked into keeping the individual for the long-haul. This means that you won’t have to endure a lengthy interview process when deciding on who to hire. A simple video interview with a few candidates is typically sufficient since most interim leaders work for one company between two months and one year before moving onto their next assignment. You can ultimately decide when the interim leader’s assignment will end, providing much-needed flexibility to your organization.

Expertise and experience

Most interim executives carry a unique knowledge in the areas they serve. For example, some interim leaders are skilled at helping companies through M&A transactions, where they focus on financial due diligence, integration, or change management activities.  Others are engaged to fill leadership gaps created as a result of a company restructuring. By working with an interim executive placement and search firm, your organization can identify a proper consultant based on your needs.  

Maintaining business continuity

Leveraging support from an interim executive leader can help your organization stay afloat and maintain business continuity—particularly during economic downturns, periods of uncertainty, or when it may not make sense to hire someone full-time. Not only will the consultant help keep pace with day-to-day operational needs, but he/she will enable your company to devote more time to other critical initiatives. In addition, you will be able to launch a search for the executive’s long-term replacement of the future. 

A real-life example

Here is a typical situation that illustrates the value of TalentRise’s interim executive placement services:

It is late on Friday afternoon and a CHRO receives an email learning that their Director of HR had unexpectedly resigned. As an acquisition looms in a matter of weeks, the CHRO knows that they had lost a key point person who could drive the integration process for the company.

With limited options available on short notice, the CHRO’s first call was to our TalentRise team. We quickly identified two interim HR candidates in our network of pre-vetted consultants. Within days, our client engaged one of our candidates on a three-month contract, and the consultant immediately began assisting with integration planning work. Not only did the interim director provide an extra set of hands for the organization in the near term, but they also bought the CHRO time to formally evaluate talent and examine potential replacements for the long-term position. TalentRise can provide a formal assessment of the acquired company’s leadership talent, and—if desired—simultaneously open up an executive search for a new HR Director in parallel with the internal talent evaluation process.

Summary

If your organization finds itself in a bind due to a departing member of your leadership team, it may be time to consider an interim solution. By engaging with an interim executive placement and search firm, your company will gain access to a network of proven interim executives who are well-equipped to solve business challenges and address organizational needs. Moreover, you can buy time to launch a formal executive search that will identify a long-term permanent hire candidate for your open position.

Are you looking for help when hiring an interim executive? We can assist your team in hiring an interim director, CEO, or other manager. Contact our team at TalentRise to learn how our network of interim leadership resources can be leveraged to aid your organization’s business needs.

This blog was written by Carl Kutsmode, TalentRise’s Senior Vice President of HR Consulting and Executive Search.