Why value Interim Management?

This is the latest review from the Recruitment Employers Confederation on the state of the UK jobs market in July 2019.

Nevertheless, the flexibility of the UK jobs market is often cited as a key strength of the economy, aiding navigation in uncertain times. Business in the UK feels pretty uncertain at the moment and the role of interims is often critical in enabling an organisation to manage complex change. Its probably no surprise that nationally the use of interims has increased by 93% since 2006.

Within the Further Education sector the value of interim managers has increased considerably and at AoC we have worked closely with colleges around the UK offering a high quality interim management service for more than ten years. We have established a strong network of relationships with many colleges meeting their resourcing needs and we continue to attract new talent to work with us as interim managers. In 2018/19 we worked with over 70 colleges to provide interim managers and at any given time we will be working with 40 or 50 college clients and some of these will be in high profile situations, providing interim principals and leadership teams at a time of crisis.

AoC remains the number one organisation to go to for interim managers for so many colleges and external stakeholders. We are proud to work together to provide the right interim managers for our clients. It is important that the sector is seen to be able to provide the right support for itself in these uncertain times. As a team we have over 34 years of working within the interim management market and I have ten years personal experience of working successfully as an interim leader across a range of sectors. Therefore, our understanding of what works is deeply held; we have considerable knowledge of the talent pool available and our due diligence is thorough and our interim managers are very loyal and happy working with AoC and many have worked with us for a number of years.

Interim Managers provide a flexible source of skills, knowledge and expertise for as long as you need them, they can add real value to your college leadership and management in the following ways;

Focused expertise – interim managers are experienced professionals selected to meet very specific requirements. It is often possible to be more exacting in your requirements and selection of an interim as the experience, expertise and skill set are critical for success so you can be demanding about getting it right

Meeting the need now – interim managers are available immediately, they have experience to understand what is required and they make an impact straight away. A new permanent employee may take months to serve their notice period and get up and running. An effective interim knows they have to add value from the start – that’s part of the challenge and satisfaction of being a good interim

Quick results – a typical hire is for six to nine months. Therefore our interim managers need to be adept at managing challenging situations, identifying the immediate needs, working to tight timescales and making things happen quickly

Objectivity – Interim managers stand outside of organisational politics. However, to succeed as an interim they need to have good interpersonal skills. Therefore their value is often a fresh perspective, an opportunity to refresh positions and a task focus which enables them to lead major initiatives and get things done.

Value for money – The level of experience held by our interims means they are often over qualified for the assignments they take on. They can provide you with a depth of knowledge and experience to achieve what is required within a given period thus giving real value

Ideal in times of change – when change is necessary and the pace is fast, effective interim managers will enable your college to respond quickly, establish new priorities and take bold decisions.

If you would like to discuss any current or anticipated requirements for interim management support please contact interim_enquiries@aoc.co.uk or call 020 7034 2633 for a confidential conversation.