This weeks Star of the Week is Yvonne Payne. She is an interim HR Manager who specilises in leadership, project management and reorganisation.

How is the interim market from your perspective?

Over the past 17 months I have had three different assignments with the same organisation so although I heard talk of a “tough market” I have not experienced it. My last contract ended mid February so I started looking for a new assignment during January and this did make me realise that there was less of the type of work that I would prefer.
 
I faced a choice of investing substantial time applying for work that was probably not ideal (meaning I would be unlikely to get shortlisted), or remember that one of the benefits of being an interim is to enjoy periods of ‘down time’. I took the latter choice and set off for six weeks in Crete returning early April. This provided time to relax and reflect on the best way to present myself during future applications for a reduced number of opportunities.

What effect has the CSR had on both your job security and future prospects?
 
The CSR caused an immediate pulling in of the reins but this has quickly been followed by organisations considering how to meet the needs of their stakeholders at reduced costs. Inevitably this means change; and where there is change there will be skills gaps that an organisation may choose to fill with an interim resource.

One of the key reasons I have gained public sector work is my background and experience within private organisations. As most of the public sector aims to become more “commercial” I am confident that I remain a good ‘option’. In conclusion, I might have longer gaps between assignments but I remain confident that I will continue as a HR interim in both the public and private sectors.

How do you see the interim market in the short and long term?

The changes and challenges in the housing market are a good parallel to the interim market. There are those people who are desperate to “sell” and therefore the “buyers” can force a lower price but where a specific type of expertise is required, the buyer is more likely to negotiate to a rate that satisfies both parties. This is especially true for “essential” skills that the buyer has to have to move forward. Where a more generic skill is required or the requirement is for someone to fill a ‘gap’ such as a maternity leave, organisations are tending to seek a fixed term contractor instead of an interim and, if I were the ‘buyer,’ so would I.

Employing an interim will increasingly need to add value and deliver a resource that is not available via another means. In my view it will take a couple of years for the market to settle; some people will leave the interim market for a number of reasons including moving into full term employment, taking early retirement or establishing a new ‘product’ rather than continuing as a conventional interim. At the same time more organisations will take strategic decisions to use flexible resources to match their needs. Only time will tell!

Has there been any variance in your rates recently?

No, but I have been flexible about the number of days worked.
When I am back in the UK looking for a role I intend to be more flexible about location and length of contract.

Have you seen an increase in job opportunities from the private sector as public sector positions have declined?

No, and I cannot see why that should be an expectation. I do think there is a ‘lead and lag’ effect that meant private sector organisations were forced/choose to review the way they operated much earlier than the public sector but I think that is more to do with commercial thinking and the previous lack of political ‘will’ than to face up to reality.



The following part of this page is a copy of the email sent to members of the attenti interims LinkedIn group.

Jobs
The current jobs we have posted are Appeal Director SCOPE, Chief Exec of Hope and Homes for Children, Chief Exec of EMMAUS UK, Relationship Director EAGA Energy and Interim ICT and Customer Services Manager.

If you are interested in any roles, or know of anyone that may be, please feel free to pass on details of attenti. All of the roles and their full description, including candidate packs can be found at www.attenti.co.uk

Star of the Week
This weeks Star of the Week is Yvonne Payne. She is an interim HR Manager who specialises in leadership, project management and reorganisation. To read the Star of the Week article please copy and paste this link.

Spotlight: New Members
Attenti interims has seen a bit of a leap in members over the past week.

Philip Baillie is an interim Turnaround Manager and Program Manager for various NHS organisations. His most recent assignment as a Turnaround Programme Manager at a health trust finished in December. After leaving a career in the military where he became the Director of Operations of the Royal Military Police, having embarked on an infrastructure project for the Army Primary Healthcare Service, Philip moved into Program and risk management.

Russell Marriott is the Head of Fundraising and Sponsorship at the Royal College of General Practitioners. After starting out as a PR manager for CLOUDS, a drugs and alcohol charity, Russell moved into fundraising at a national disability charity. He has moved between charities, since with interim as Director of fundraising assignments at the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, Rich Mix Cultural Foundation and Mental Health Foundation to name a few.

Phil Colgan has recently finished his most recent assignment with USAID (Afghanistan- Commercial Horticulture and Agriculture Marketing) as Interim Chief of Party. Mike specialises in international development and has worked for organisations such as the UN and USAID on various roles. For two years, Phil was Senior Chief of Party/Director General of USAID/Pakistan’s $150 million FATA Sustainable Development Program (FSDP). Prior to that, during 2005 – 2007 Phil was COP for USAID’s $56 million Integrated Trade Arrangements project in Palestine / Israel / Egypt and Jordan.

Question of the Week
Visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/attentipoll1803 to enter (free without signup) and the result will be posted next week.
Are more interim assignments being filled purely through contacts rather than agencies than 6 months ago?