When looking for a way to cut-costs or bridge a resourcing gap, full time resources are sometimes not the best choice. Going through the drawn-out recruitment process is very expensive and can even be fruitless. One option then, is to consider the utilisation of highly experienced individuals or teams that can either be short term (interim) or longer term ‘manager for hire’ resources.

​

Accessing this type of highly experienced resource in an advisory or management role is a significant challenge to many organisations. Having people with real, hands-on experience at the sharp end, who are able to pass on this knowledge and experience by mentoring the next generation, is usually the result of many years’ investment of time, effort and cost.

​

This type of resource should be viewed as an investment in the resident workforce. In addition to passing on technical skills and experience, they also help to shape the skills and behaviours of an organisation by covering key supporting and leadership roles, either as part of a recruitment process (interim) or ongoing (MFH) in key roles and support areas like HSEQ.

 

The benefits of this kind or approach are summarised in an article published by Adam Bloch of FDU in December 2016;

​

"In turbulent times, these senior Interim roles can provide much needed breathing room between permanent candidates. Where a leadership vacancy is not the issue, specialist resources are parachuted in to provide expert knowledge or experience for specific projects, providing targeted insight and solutions to maximise project outcomes.

​

Not only does this approach neatly match up precise business needs with expert candidates but also reduces the creation of potentially unnecessary and expensive permanent positions, thereby keeping overheads down and shareholder spirits up".