Interim Manager-Career Start-Study
Eine Deutsche Version dieses Artikels finden Sie auf meinem Life and Career Blog.
In the summer of 2021, I conducted a study. The aim was to better understand people's entry into professional activity as interim managers. UNITEDINTERIM and butterflymanager kindly provided the interview partners. The sample corresponded to the industry standard regarding age (50 plus). Women were overrepresented. All were in their first year, and the majority had no mandates. The CORONA crisis, with its negative effects on the interim management market, made it difficult to get started.
The most striking similarity is that they all had solid management careers in senior positions at larger companies. Technically, they are all competent in their core area of competence (finance, HR, etc.).
Here are some insights from the in-depth interviews:
1. Is the entry into interim management out of necessity or a long-cherished wish?
Nobody had planned this in the long term. For 1/3 of the people, interim management is the primary option. At 2/3, it is another mainstay alongside consulting and supervisory board mandates. In the case of those aged 60 and over, it was visible that the probability of getting another job as a manager was classified as very low. Interim managers and consultants were inevitably the primary options here.
For about 1/3, it was the way from the "glass ceiling" (i.e., no opportunity for advancement) to a new quality for the "final" professional phase.
2. How do people prepare for the new professional phase?
None of the study participants had made any preparation worth mentioning in advance.
"Marketing measures" are only taken at the beginning or immediately before the beginning of the communicated intention to work as an interim manager: updating or setting up social media accounts, setting up your own website, registering with intermediaries and online portals for interim managers as well as the Activation of your own personal network.
3. Which career model do you follow? (Consecutive career, portfolio career)
About 1/3 pursued a consecutive career model, and 2/3 a portfolio career.
In summary, it can be said that the "new" interim managers would have benefited from thorough, long-term preparation.
You can find more about this in my Chapter 8 - “Karriere Strategien für Interim Manager” im Karriere-Handbuch für Interim Manager.
