Is a career as an interim something for you?

What skills do you need?

• It is important that you have skills that fit the temporary and challenging nature of interim assignments. Not everyone is suitable for this role. You need the following qualities:
• Adaptability: you regularly change positions and organizations, so you must be able to adapt quickly and frequently. With every assignment, you must understand the organizational culture and structure;
• Stress resistance: you work with new teams on every assignment and will have to quickly demonstrate your added value. A lot is expected of you and colleagues want to see results. This brings pressure to perform;
• Good communication skills: you find your way within organizations by communicating excellently at different levels; Ability to transfer: you carry out a project within an organisation, but leave after completing the assignment. The organisation must work with the results of the project in the long term. You must transfer the correct information to the stakeholders and ensure correct procedures to make the project a success.

The conditions

With an interim assignment, you are paid per hour. On average, you are paid more than a salaried manager. You must take into account costs that you bear yourself. It is important that you ensure that you have insurance that provides sufficient coverage in the event of disability or liability. It is also important that you make good pension arrangements for later and maintain reserves for periods with fewer assignments. In addition, you have administrative obligations and you ensure accurate administration of your assignments and other financial matters.

Disadvantages

Before you are given an explanation of the advantages of an interim professional, you will be given an explanation of the disadvantages.

• Interim managers do not always have a good reputation. Anyone can carry out interim assignments, but there is no national quality mark for this specific profession. Good quality is not guaranteed; It is hard work, because you are responsible for finding work yourself. You must have a good network of your own. It can be busy in good economic times, but in times of crisis you may have few assignments and you have to put more energy into acquisition;
• Employees of the organization where you are carrying out an assignment are often not charmed by an interim professional. You probably bring major changes with you and are critical of the positions and activities of permanent employees. This does not make you popular;
• You have little connection with an organization, because you leave after completing an assignment. You never work somewhere for a long time.

Large business network

The advantages probably outweigh the disadvantages for you. For example, interim assignments provide a large business network and insight into different companies. At every organization where you carry out an assignment, you get to know new people and build a network. This is important and fun, because many of your future assignments come from this same network.

Freedom and flexibility

You are your own boss and responsible for how much and what kind of work you do. You have control and choose which interim assignments you accept. If you have fewer assignments for a period, that is not a problem either. You can fill the freed-up time with your family, hobbies, following a training course or a nice trip. You can organize your time flexibly.

Your own development

A nice advantage is your own development. You work on projects at different organizations. This ensures that you quickly gain experience and acquire knowledge. You develop yourself faster than with a salaried job. In addition, you learn all kinds of things about other working methods through the different assignments and your knowledge remains up-to-date. You become a source of knowledge and this is very interesting for clients.