How do you pick the right interim service provider for your needs?

Picking an interim service provider as an integral part of your process to source a viable interim manager. At a very basic level, interim service providers help facilitate the matching of seasoned interim professionals with project specific skills, industry knowledge and experience with end-user businesses. However, why would you need to use one?

The usual recourse for sourcing interim managers follows one or several of the options below:

Using an Interim Service Provider (interim management agency).
Contacting an interim you have previously engaged, or an ex-employee who is now an interim.
Leveraging your network of professional contacts for a referral for an available and appropriate interim
Using LinkedIn or other online platforms to source interims with relevant experience.

With so many options for sourcing interim managers, it can be challenging knowing which will provide the most quality assurance for the specific skill sets and experience your project or business needs from an interim. To obtain that quality assurance and save time in doing so, using an Interim Service Provider (ISP) is a popular choice as they have:

Industry or sector-specific knowledge
A proven record of matching interims with sector or project-specific experience and end-user business’ project
A flexible, problem-solving approach to interim resourcing
A deep network of available and qualified interim managers

What kind of Interim Services Provider should you use?

However, the matter doesn’t end there. There are several different types of ISP:

Specialist Interim Service Providers
Consultancies with associates who specialise in providing SMEs
Executive search firms with division(s) that specialises in interim management practices
Recruiters with interim management practices and consultants
An interim manager themselves

Within these different types of ISP there are also different service models which roughly follow the format of: Digital CV Brokering, Recruitment and Partnerships.

Digital CV Brokering:

This model matches interims with end-user businesses by using a digital platform or mobile app. Fees can be paid on subscription service or on a match-by-match basis. Whilst this method is quick it does have its limitations as there are very few screening controls for the interims on the database, and you run the risk of being matched with an interim with skills that are outdated or subpar.

Recruitment:

Recruiters who offer interim management services often have large databases of candidates and can source several individuals to match the brief, similar to how they offer permanent recruitment services. Oftentimes, however, recruiters are not specialists and are better placed to provide senior temporaries to fill like-for-like roles than that of a true interim management provider.

Partnerships:

Partnerships are the most efficient way to source interim managers as they have substantial experience in a wide range of industries, transformation (and other) projects, and often have an international reach. They can provide one or two interim executives who fit a detailed brief and begin the assignment shortly after.

How is our approach to interim solutions different?

Using the partnership model, we offer a cost-effective solution by providing on-demand and as-required resources for your project or programme delivery. Our approach means we can deliver truly bespoke services tailored to your needs due to:

Our investment in partnerships

We have established strong and successful partnerships with numerous accounting and consulting firms allowing us to deliver blended solutions to enable consultancy delivery and augmentation. This enables businesses to accelerate problem solving and transform their businesses strategically and cost effectively.

Our immersion into our partners' specialist subject areas gives us a deep understanding of their value proposition; knowledge we can then pass onto our clients.

Experience crafting flexible, long-term solutions:

Oakwood Resources’ unique approach to interim solutions means we can accelerate your project delivery by sourcing interim managers that are:

Assessed based on their experience in the market or on a project-expertise basis
Who can work independently or alongside a consultancy agency to deliver bespoke solutions

Oakwood Resources offers businesses the opportunity to leverage the immediate value and impact of interim managers as part of a wider, forward-planning engagement to enable consultancy team augmentation and enhancement for key initiatives. The Oakwood Resources Blended Model® enables businesses to access the strategic capability of a consulting firm but with the hands-on delivery of an interim, providing businesses a cost-effective alternative to a traditional consultancy engagement.

Our geographic reach

Our solutions are not limited by geography. The executives we work with often have operational responsibility for their organisation that reach further than the UK mainland. We have existing relationships with interims in Europe and the United States that enable us to extend our delivery mechanism to suit international needs.

We maintain your flexible workforce outside IR35?

We provide our valued clients with an IR35?solution that manages the entire process, from status assessment to process consultation,?so you can?confidently and compliantly maintain your flexible workforce outside IR35.??

This solution can also be covered by Zurich’s underwritten IR35 insurance policy that protects the whole supply chain for up to both £100k legal defence costs and £100k tax liability per contractor, mitigating any risk and giving you full confidence that your engagement is covered.

If you are looking for a results-focused and transformational interim manager, or would like to learn more about the Oakwood Resources IR35 Status tool, get in touch today to discuss your project requirements.?

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