The UK is experiencing a rise in the recruitment of Executive interim management in the Engineering and Technology sectors. According to the Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC), between 2008 and 2014 the number of temporary workers (notably temps, contractors and interim managers) in the UK increased by 20%. In comparison, permanent positions went up by only 0.3% during the same period. The buoyancy of the interim, temp and contract market widely reported over the last few years, has not abated. Recent figures published in August from the REC confirmed that 98% of UK employers intend to maintain or increase the number of Interim workers hired during the remainder of this year. 

The growth in recruiting interim management has shifted towards being both about skill gap management and driving transformational change. Turnaround and change specialists, particularly within Technology and Engineering have seen a notable rise since the decision to leave the European Union. It is not irrelevant that in uncertain times a senior interim has an arguably great economic value to a business than a less experienced management consultant. There has noticeably been an uptake in the requirements for risk and compliance specialists in the Engineering, Manufacturing and Technology sectors. 

Peter Livingstone, Director of Contract & Interim has successfully delivered numerous ‘D’ and ‘C’ level search assignments in the technology and engineering recruitment sector and has successfully placed interim managers specialising in a variety of different disciplines and sectors. Interim appointments often include CEOs, CTO’s, Technical Director, Operations Director and Sales Director jobs. 

Peter has over 10 years’ experience in interim and executive search. He explains: ‘After the 1980’s recession, there was a need to ensure UK Technology and engineering companies were lean and focused on productivity. It was envisioned that these organisations would be a mixture of permanent, contract, temporary and outsourced resources, and this same principle is essential in engineering and technology companies of today. Most businesses need a stable core team and they can then seek out the right talent for short-term requirements, where capability within the organisation may lack the experience required or the project necessities short-term resources. 

Peter continues: “Brexit has undoubtedly impacted the economic scenery. The only real certainty is we are in a period of uncertainty. Interim Management has always proved to be relatively economically resilient and as long as there is change in technologies and processes, demand for senior interim managers will remain strong. Short-term thinking is certainly at the forefront of executive hiring strategies and with cost-cutting sensitivities around the UK there are industry-specific skill shortages. The demand for project-specific Interim Managers has already begun to increase. This is primarily in the interim recruitment arena though there has been an incremental increase in the number of permanent executive job assignments converting or indeed changing into Executive Interim assignments. As more companies become aware of the quality of interim managers, interim recruitment in the Executive Search arena will continue to grow.” 

As the UK heads into a period of change and uncertainty, the demand for executive and senior management professionals will increase as will the demand for interim management to direct, navigate and lead technology, manufacturing, and engineering companies through turbulent times. With global competition becoming increasingly tight in the executive interim search market, it’s important for organisations to select a specialist recruitment provider that can help them to react to the temporary skills gap in this area.