There is no doubt that currently it is a challenging candidate market for people who are seeking interim management opportunities. Even the most ‘seasoned’ of interim management leaders have noticed how the market has shifted over the past two years or so. In the annual Institute of Interim Management Survey of 2025, the IIM noted a “two speed market” with some interims securing regular work and benefiting from fees holding up well to other interims facing up to harder to come by assignments and softer fees. For those stepping into interim leadership, success now requires more than just experience. It demands self-awareness, strategic positioning, and the discipline to treat yourself not as a former employee, but as a business. From McLean Public’s longstanding experience in interim recruitment, here are our top five tips to becoming a successful interim:
1. Build a personal brand: At the heart of success in this market is a simple truth: you are your own brand. Define your value proposition and transferable skills, as your past organisational affiliation no longer defines you. Once you leave permanent employment, your credibility rests on your value proposition. What do you bring that is distinct? Is it turnaround expertise? Political navigation? Cultural transformation? Crisis stabilisation? Linked to this, don’t limit your options to what you have done before. Consider what of your experience and skills set is transferable to either broader roles or, indeed, another sector. In fact, building a portfolio across sectors is a good way to increase your versatility and suitability for different roles.
2. Manage your CV strategically: First things first- choose carefully your initial interim assignment. It will say more about you and your ‘offer’ than you might think. Your first interim role is particularly consequential as it sets the direction of travel for how the market perceives you. It’s tempting to take the first role that you are offered but press the ‘pause’ button for a while. It’s important to ‘curate’ your interim career at least as much as your earlier career progression in permanent roles. Aim for a title that reflects your experience and ensure the role fits in with your career plan. Prioritise impactful roles and negotiate titles/reporting lines (e.g., to a Chief Exec) to maintain your career trajectory. Each assignment should strengthen your narrative, not fragment it.
3. Leave when you stop adding value: This is a very important point. Staying too long in an assignment risks you becoming part of the problem you were hired to address and losing your edge as an ‘interim’ manager. The objectivity of your ‘fresh pair of eyes’ and independence of thought as an external resource are two key elements of your value proposition as an interim manager. It means you can challenge ingrained thinking and raise difficult questions. Also, great interims build capacity within their teams, so progress endures after they leave. Sustainability is the ultimate test of interim impact. Pragmatically, they also begin scanning for their next role before the current contract ends. Waiting until the final weeks of a six-month assignment is rarely wise in a competitive market.
4. Do thorough due diligence: Before accepting any assignment, confirm the scope, working culture, and leadership’s commitment to the change you’re being hired to deliver. Interims are frequently hired to do what permanent leaders cannot or will not: restructure services, reduce costs, confront underperformance. Beware of any ‘bear-traps’ and ensure everyone is bought in to the agenda you are being asked to deliver. As part of the hiring process ensure you meet with all the key players that are going to be on your roadmap to delivering successfully on your assignment. Once in role, resilience is not optional. Nor is bridge-building. The most effective interims combine firmness with emotional intelligence, engaging potential critics early and building alliances even while driving difficult decisions.
5. Build a strong network: Your network is your primary source of future work. Of course, register with multiple agencies. However, curate these carefully too. Prioritise those that take time out to understand your skills, send over genuinely relevant opportunities and invest in a longer term (rather than transactional) relationship with you. Being submitted indiscriminately for ill-fitting assignments erodes credibility and wastes energy. Furthermore, as an interim manager, your professional networks are going to be more important than ever, so investing in conference attendance, events and professional development opportunities are key as is cultivating relationships with key stakeholders.
Be the person people want to work with.
