Socratim's blog for senior managers

You have more than 15 years of experience and you are back available on the market looking for the next challenge? This article might then be of interest for you! Socratim meets Senior Managers who haven't practiced interviews for years, as they were employed for companies and then left or lost their job. The interview meeting with recruiting companies or with your future employer/client is not an easy exercise and must not be underestimated. As you know and may have experienced this, it makes the difference between you and your competitors.

The CV preparation will indeed be the 1st step and basis for this preparation (see art. "How to increase your success rate in Interim Management: the 2 key tips!") but then, you need to bring it "life" in an interview. This is quite tricky...Even for "extravert" people, who feel usually more comfortable in discussion or presentations. When starting speaking about yourself, you do not always have the distance and the needed objectivity. Your own resources, expertise sound like common, normal for you and you do not consider them as unique selling points and, as a consequence, you do not mention them as such in interview... However this will make the difference between you and another candidate.

Rest assured that you don't need to be a "sales type of profile" to make this happen. Nevertheless, as this is not a natural exercice, it needs first, a good awareness of your own resources (like a SWOT analyses of your profile) and second, an oral preparation. Lots of talented senior managers used to speak in the past tense in interviews, when presenting themselves, not putting forward who they are today. So, a simple but important tip which use to make the difference for your audience, is to speak about you at the present ad not the past tense. You will of course give exemples to illustrate your experience with nice achievements, using the past tense. This concept sounds maybe easy to you and it is so. Its implementation is a bit more complex and requires lots of practice to become natural.

Why using the present tense, when presenting yourself, is so efficient in interview? It forces you to make a resume of what you can offer today on a structured way. Next to that, you will be much more "to-the-point" and make clear for your potential business partners what you are good in about 20 minutes. This way, you leave no doubts about all you can do today and you give them the time to focus on some parts of your presentation which they might find more relevant for the job/mission concerned.

So, let's try it: make the exercice and try to observe yourself with kindness and check if you speak in the present or in the past. Have fun!

You would like to start as an Interim Manager or you are a well-established one? Then it might be interesting for you to get familiar with some best practices, do’s & don’ts of this sector...Let's start with 2 best practices/tips!

"Les métiers des ressources humaines jouent des coudes" - 16 janvier 2014 - Texte d' Olivier Standaert, journaliste du Trends.

Intérim, recrutement, «executive search», outplacement, «projectsourcing», coaching et formation: qui fait quoi dans les ressources humaines? De l’aveu de plusieurs acteurs, la cartographie du secteur s’est brouillée et complexifiée. De plus en plus de sociétés taillent des croupières à la concurrence en faisant un peu de tout. Cette diversification pose la question des méthodes de travail, parfois prises en tenaille entre le besoin de rentabilité et la conjoncture morose.

Have you had ever taken the time to think of Interim Management as a career opportunity? When thinking about it, did you end-up with more market threats or opportunities ? Did you consider your strengths and weaknesses in an objective way taking into account the specificities of this career? How deep do you know this career to be able to take the right decision for you and what are your believes based on?

Based on Deloitte's latest survey (2013 Q2 Signals report), CFOs seem to be more optimistic compare to a year ago.

Despite this positivism and desire for growth, they remain alert keeping in mind the potential economical risks of downsize (with focus on cost management en business). Therefore companies still prefer to avoid long-term investments and choose for flexibility. Companies keep asking for a strong stimulative policy stance. They find government's fiscal and hiring stimulus to be insufficient to remain competitive on the market and ensure sustainable growth.

Trying to find the positive side of these economical obstacles, Socratim keeps optimistic as well for Interim Managers. Indeed, the need for flexibility that companies require in order to remain competitive "sounds good" for the sector of interim management. By definition, professional Interim Managers represent "flexible and plug-in solutions" for companies and they play a key role for sustainable results!

The latest news from IMA (Interim Management Association, in UK) highlights very positive trends related to the Interim Management sector. This association represents the Interim Management Provider Industry in UK. The last survey (Q2 2013) indicates the highest growth rates since in 2006.

By intermediary companies we mean all "recruiting, consulting" companies proposing the services of self-employed Interim Managers. When working on an assignment, an Interim Manager does not have the time to prospect and need to anticipate the end of her/his assignment in order to ensure the next ones. Some Interim Managers are very good at networking and find their own assignments and contract directly with the client. In other cases Interim Managers ask recruiting companies to find an assignment for them.

Like one of the 4 Scenarios of Life where we make choices before reaching age 7 (cfr. Transactional Analysis, E.Berne, C. Steiner), an Interim Manager can choose a "mission scenario". In order to be successful, you will need to adapt to the client company’s culture, people and policies. Of course what will make the difference is what makes you so unique.

Are you a Senior Manager and are you thinking of interim management as a possible career transition? It is crucial to ask yourself why before asking how. Your main motivation needs to be in line with your life and values…Indeed, your choice must not be driven by the difficulty in finding a permanent position because of the economic situation. Interim Management is a real career transition and you must therefore enter this market with a different mindset and attitude.

Depending on the length, complexity and responsibilities of the mission, a client can be charged between € 700 and € 2,000 per day for an Interim Manager. The usual mark-up in Interim Management on the Belgian market is about 43% of the pay rate of the Interim Manager. For instance, if a client is charged € 860/day for an Interim Manager who is paid € 600/day, then the mark-up for the Interim Manager provider is € 260/day.

The Belgian newspaper L’Echo published on 31/05/2013 an article about recruitment and a survey of Manpower about the issues for recruiting permanently specific profiles with technical skills (like Finance, Sales, etc). Based on this article, as a consequence of the economic crisis, companies currently feel less concerned by recruiting issues. At the same time, when they need a profile, they are more demanding and expect candidates to fit the job 100% and to be immediately operational.