Demand for interims soars



The report has highlighted that the first quarter of 2022 ended with significant increases in white-collar recruitment, with contract professionals in particularly high demand as skills shortages remain rife.

The demand for high calibre, experienced, adaptable and agile procurement practitioners is equal to (if not more than) anything I’ve seen previously.

Whether it is INSIDE or OUTSIDE IR35, the Interim Management experience – of undertaking specific projects/programmes/transformations in multiple environments with a diverse stakeholder community – is being deployed in a number of different ways.

There are three areas of real demand I am seeing at the moment:

• Leading target operation model changes
• Coaching, mentoring and upskilling existing things
• Being used as experienced hires who can come in and renegotiate existing contracts with the intention of improving and hitting savings targets while creating a more resilient supply chain

APSCO’s report, with data from Bullhorn, revealed that permanent vacancies were up 12% on February’s data and 17% year-on-year.

Interestingly, demand for contract professionals reported the biggest uptick, increasing 22% month-on-month and 24% year-on-year.

Why?

  1. Pace: Usually the urgency of the hire is immediate. This means that the identification of the right candidate and the interview process needs to be very quick and smooth
  2. Experience: Most interim managers are far more experienced than the role requires – this is essential because it means they can parachute into the business and deliver output from day one
  3. Cost: Hiring an interim is not comparative to hiring a permanent candidate – predominately because interims are Immediately available, more experienced and deliver a faster return on investment
  4. Talent pool: Interim management is a very defined talent pool that is much smaller than the permanent recruitment market. It also moves a lot quicker – causing the volume of available candidates to fluctuate significantly day by day

With demand so high, the talent pool point is pertinent at the moment.

According to APSCo, already dwindling talent pools are being further diminished as the number of new hires increases. Across permanent roles, placements were up 16% month-on-month in March, but the annual comparisons showed the greatest spike, up 45% when compared to the same month in 2021.

Contract placements saw similar upticks, increasing 27% month-on-month and 11% year-on-year.

At Procurement Heads, we have developed a strong interim talent pool with more than 600 interim procurement and supply chain professionals we can engage at short notice in all of the sectors we serve (Industrial, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Consumer, Financial & Professional Services and the Public Sector).

With continued global supply chain disruptions, the demand for interim procurement and supply chain professionals isn’t going to drop any time soon.

If you are looking for your next business-critical interim hire – or would like to join our exceptional interim talent pool, please do get in touch.

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