When Simeen Kadi returned from travelling five years ago, a contact asked her to take on what turned out to be a four‑month consulting project. Now a seasoned interim marketer, she’s never looked back, believing that working on a temporary basis for companies that require a strategic kick to their marketing operations is as good as it gets.
“One of the great things about interim work is that you get to provide an organisation with huge value within a short space of time,” she says. “I think in part it’s because we’re able to sit back and be objective, not least because we’re not involved in the day-to‑day politics. Also, there’s an expectation that you’ll come in and make a difference straight away, which is incredibly motivating. I also like the fact that you learn about different industries and meet a wide range of fantastic people.”
Most significant for many marketers is the flexibility that interim working provides – some interims taking as much as half the year off, not working at all. “It definitely suits a flexible lifestyle,” confirms Kadi. Then there’s the fact that interim marketers earn about 20 per cent more on average than their employed colleagues – and with agencies such as Odgers and Ashton Penney specialising in placements there’s more chance than ever of getting work.
The flipside is that you receive no holiday or sick pay and you have to plan for unpaid periods between contracts. “You need to network like mad to ensure a seamless transition from one role to another if you don’t want to be out of work,” adds Kadi.
“Typically, you find you get lots of calls of interest when you’re in the middle of a role, and then they dry up when you’re ready to move on,” she says. “It’s not as if you can plan that far ahead either. My last role was supposed to be for five months and ended up being two years.”
Ian Smith, marketing manager at market research agency Harris Interactive, adds that when interims have a job on, work-life balance can go out of the window. “Working on a freelance basis, I found that my enthusiasm to deliver an amazing job for clients was often at the expense of my personal life. I even cancelled an anniversary weekend with my wife in order to deliver a piece of work at short notice.”
Steve Mann, managing director of Brand Recruitment, adds that if ever you want to go back to a permanent role, you may be deemed to have shot yourself in the foot. “Employers are often wary of taking on people who have moved around regularly as they feel they may struggle with a longer-term commitment,” he says.
Another issue flagged up by marketers working in interim roles is a slight sense of alienation – they do not feel fully involved or integrated into the company or its culture.”
Nonetheless, he says interims are constantly learning and being challenged and will never succumb to boredom or frustration. “It can also provide an alternative route to career progression because interim roles are often viewed as on-the-job interviews,” says Mann. “If someone really impresses in an interim role at a decent sized company, it is highly likely that the firm will want to keep hold of them.”
As for the credit crunch, Mann believes it could go one of two ways. “As belts tighten, individual departments are often given limits on permanent head counts, so interim contracts can come into play more often in these tough times.
“On the other hand, companies are going to think twice about letting a successful and diligent permanent worker go, which means continuity of employment for the employee, but those looking at interim roles perhaps spending an increasing amount of time between projects.”
Heads down
To be successful in interim work, Richard Wilson, director of Ashton Penney, says you’ll need flexibility, adaptability, tenacity, confidence, diplomacy and a solid work ethic. “You’ll need to thrive on new challenges and ideally you’ll have a short attention span,” he adds. “Interims are people who don’t like getting involved in the care and maintenance. They just want to come in and do the work.”
Like Kadi, Wilson advises interims to ensure their own network is well oiled, rather than depending entirely on agencies like them. “You’ve got to make sure everyone knows about you and be completely brazen about it. Make a lot of noise and you’ll have a better chance of a good return.”
For marketers who are keen on the idea of flexibility, but for whom interim work may be one step too far, fear not. In an attempt to focus on work-life balance, employers are increasingly offering flexible work schemes – with anything from job shares to compressed hours – as well as secondments. “I currently work a four-day week,” says Dawn Baker, head of marketing for Sage’s small business division. “I don’t get so much time for chit chat Monday through to Thursday – I just have to get my head down and get on – but the upside is that when I return again the following Monday I feel that I’ve had a great time with my family and am raring to go again.”
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