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We are searching for excellent recruitment consultants to help us to continue to grow Interim Partners. It is not easy to find exceptional recruiters who are passionate about service and want to work hard to support our interim community. Can you help us identify them?
Here’s how. You are probably already networked with good recruiters and have built excellent relationships with them. These are the people we are looking for. Please recommend them to us and tell us what attributes make them stand out from a crowded market.
We are looking for high quality, tenacious and goal orientated people who have an impressive and successful career. They may already be in recruitment – either Interim Management or Executive Search. They could be in Consulting or have experience of selling solutions to C level contacts. They will be great at building relationships, naturally inquisitive and have the ability to influence. They will have the soft skills that clearly recognise we work with talented people and need to manage their hopes and expectations. Importantly, they must understand that we are marketing the skills of our interims and that they are not a “product.” The positions will be based in our London office.
Why Interim Partners?
• Sunday Fast Track 100 in 2008 and 2009. We are outperforming our sector.
• Our business achieved double digit growth in 2009 and we have achieved record revenues in quarters 1 and 2 of 2010.
• We have great relationships with our clients. We are preferred supplier to numerous FTSE 250 companies.
• Exceptional track record of supplying interim managers to some of the UK’s largest change programmes- we have fantastic case studies.
• Supportive culture, close knit team.
• Exceptional Financial rewards.
If we hire someone you recommend we would like to say a big thank you – so tell us what that thank you could be. Tickets to a major sporting event? Tickets for a must see show in the West End? A case of champagne? Of course you would always get our complete focus to help you identify your next assignment!
Please email me your thoughts at dbaird@interimpartners.com
Doug Baird is Managing Director of Interim Partners.
The newspapers have been full of stories relating to poor leadership over the past few weeks. We have seen General Stanley McChrystall loose his position due to communicating with the press directly and criticising the Obama administration. John Terry has also been talking directly to the media about his boss but has survived despite making a “big mistake”. My favorite of the current batch though is Tony Hayward embattled CEO of BP who continues to get a roasting from all sides for his handling of the Gulf oil crisis.
Knowing what to do in a crisis is a rare skill. The decisions you make have a habit of following you around for many months or even years after. Good judgment is often hard to quantify immediately – it is often only in hindsight that we can see the real and lasting benefits.
It is important that as we represent our interim managers we focus on where they have added value, what they have achieved in previous assignments and if they have a positive legacy. We want to demonstrate to our clients that their organisation is better off; that our interim manager made a contribution that met their expectations and that they passed on their knowledge so that their efforts made a lasting impact.
We place leaders – perhaps they are not leading the national team or running one of the world’s largest oil companies but they are providing excellent leadership to businesses, departments, projects or teams. We like many, are also searching for the illusive characteristics that make good leaders and therefore good interim managers. I would like our clients and interim managers to get involved in this debate and tell me what they believe makes good leaders and good interim managers.
We will all see greater competition for assignments especially as opportunities for interims in the public sector run dry. We will need to fight against the impulse to make a commodity out of interim management and therefore interim managers. We will need to re-enforce the added value message to our clients – the lasting benefits and importantly that the value and contribution of a good interim manager is always far greater than their cost.
Doug Baird is Managing Director of Interim Partners.
Whilst the interim market within the private equity & restructuring market remains challenging, in recent weeks we have definitely seen much more activity. This is certainly good news and hopefully it will continue once we have got the summer out of the way.
In the last two months we have introduced an Interim CEO to Endless llp to run their latest acquisition British Bookshops & Stationers. We have also been working with the restructuring group of one of the leading banks which has led to the introduction of a Non-Executive Director to the board of a private equity backed manufacturing businesses. Last week, working with the same bank, we introduced a Chief Restructuring Officer to Discover Leisure plc as part of the CVA they recently agreed in conjunction with KPMG.
http://www.kpmg.co.uk/email/06Jun09/146864/MFirmin/220_e-Alert.html
Working with the banks is certainly proving to be a very good and fruitful relationship for Interim Partners and we are now in a position to deliver across a much wider range of projects in addition to the traditional private equity (MBO) mandates we receive. Given our in-depth knowledge across many sectors we are able to introduce industry specific executives with restructuring and stake holder management experience at short notice.
Looking forward we may well see an increase in the types of opportunities outlined here, be it working with distressed debt and turnaround investors or indeed the restructuring teams within the main banks. I expect that the parameters of these roles will continue to be varied in duration, scope, and complexity and will provide a different portfolio of opportunities for our interim network. An increase in corporate M&A and private equity backed buyouts would certainly be well received and complement the current flow of activity we are now seeing.
Doug Baird is Managing Director and Head of the Private Equity Practice of Interim Partners.
I am interested to hear how our clients and interims view swine flu? Is there a genuine threat that will significantly affect business and far worse lead to loss of life or will it be a couple of small sneezes and one day in bed. Like many I have had “man flu” an equally nasty strain but have to be honest I am far more concerned about swine flu as I have a very young family (soon to be 3 under 3) and also work in London so use the tube. I don’t mind getting it but don’t want to pass it to my family!
If you are one of our clients perhaps you may want to comment as to what sort of contingency plans you have in place if a large part of your workforce became ill. I am also interested to hear if it is on the radar of the SME market. With a brutal recession top of the agenda it may not get much of a looking. What of the interim manager? Has anyone turned down an assignment or thought twice about accepting one due to travel in airports or an international location?
At the other end of the spectrum I have heard of swine flu parties (can this really be true!?) a case of get it now, over and done with.
I suspect swine flu may prove to be an unpleasant experience – I hope it doesn’t effect any of us too seriously.
Doug Baird is Managing Director at Interim Partners.
Well it is in our office anyway. We are going to ban the use of the word and ensure that it is not viewed as an excuse but as an opportunity. I hope my title caught your attention and for a mere split second you were hopeful that it was over and that I might have some pearls of wisdom or indeed some hard facts that might suggest the recession is over. Unfortunately, I have neither. All I can say is that our team is increasingly more positive as they are experiencing greater levels of activity in the market.
I am no different to many small business owners and when bombarded with bad news in the press am left feeling that my glass is half full. However, our hard work and commitment are paying off and we are indentifying opportunities for high quality interim managers. Recent assignments have included opportunities across all the sectors that we operate in and whilst we have a strong presence in the UK we have also got current assignments based in continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Within the past two weeks I have also had the opportunity to pitch to a financial services provider who are about to embark on a major change programme so can confidently predict that the pipeline for assignments is looking good.
I recently attended the Yorkshire Business Conference www.yibc.biz. As always the conference was excellent and this year it focused on speakers who had a “can do” approach to business. I can recommend this conference (or those that are similar) to everyone because you come away with a renewed sense of purpose and positivity. What key points did I come away with? A few messages struck a chord. The first is that there is enough business out there for everyone, even today. The second was switch off from the negativity that is out there, turn off the TV or ignore the papers until at least lunchtime as you will start the day better and achieve more. The third message I took was – ignore what your competition are doing, focus on your own business and don’t fret if you hear that they too are successful as there is still enough out there for all of us.
On one last positive note please wish me some luck! I recently presented our business to a panel of experts for the National Business Awards. Always difficult to judge if you hit the right notes but I hope I gave a reasonable account of the business and the excellent team within. Should find out how we did in the next few weeks. Will report our progress and hopefully have more positive news.
Doug Baird is Managing Director of Interim Partners
The landscape for private equity led buyouts is clearly barren. Only five deals have been announced this quarter to date, which is less than 10% of completions during the same period in 2008. The 1st quarter of 2009 didn’t look much better either, with only 13 completed compared to 63 last year.
Obviously the financing of deals in terms of debt remains a stumbling block or at least the price of debt finance makes it prohibitive. Vendor price expectations are still significantly higher than that of buyers. The appetite for backing relatively high risk transitions in this climate remains limited.
However, on the positive side we have seen Lloyds Development Capital complete a number of deals this year and a key client of Interim Partners, Endless llp, recently completed the acquisition of British Bookshops and Stationers plc with the aid of an Interim CEO provided by our Private Equity Practice (announced in Retail Week http://www.retail-week.com/retail-sectors/entertainment/books/ex-whsmith-man-to-run-british-bookshops-and-stationers/5002884.article )
Other bright spots have been a number of opportunities instigated by the Business Support teams within the Banks and recovery practices within the leading advisory and accountancy firms. These roles have mainly being focused around balance sheet restructuring, turnaround advisory, and Non-Executive Directorships. I still feel we are a little way from seeing the real medium to long term turnaround mandates that would create opportunities for Interim Executives across the spectrum, but seeing the banks acting on this tentative basis is still fantastic news.
Also, if we are almost at the point when the worst is over (say it quietly) perhaps these and many other opportunities will start to filter through quicker and that may also provide a catalyst for more M&A activity. Going forward one must expect the environment to become more fertile as there will be many opportunities for investors to commit some of the cash piles that have built up in the last six months. In Britain alone there is circa £90bn waiting in the war chest. There is no question 2009 has been a tough year for the buy out community, banks, and management teams of leveraged buyouts, but hopefully the summer will provide us with some momentum going in to the last quarter of the year.
Please feel free to leave your comments regarding the current M&A and Private Equity market conditions and don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss any of the issues raised here or in previous entries. Indeed I am always keen to hear from Executives operating in this space either directly or indirectly.
The G20 summit in many ways now seems like a distant memory. After a market rally pushed the FTSE 100 above 4000 we are now back to the consistent volatility of recent times. Despite the numerous fiscal stimuli we are still left to wonder what impact, if any, this will have on real businesses and real people in the UK. The big question remains – how and when will all this additional capital filter through to those businesses, particularly SMEs, that desperately need it and when will the banks get back to some kind of normality?
Clearly, times like these highlight the great inequalities that exist in the world, none more so than RBS’ announcement of 9000 more redundancies. In light of Sir Fred’s seven hundred thousand pound yearly pension pot those 9000 people will be feeling mightily aggrieved, and so they should.
Putting Sir Fred and all the other now impotent ‘masters of the universe’ to one side the simple fact remains that we need our banks to function as they should (providing the platform for growth by way of credit, loans, working capital etc) and as quickly as possible. The longer it takes to clean up the banks and get them lending again the longer we will be stuck in the current maelstrom.
As much as it pains many to say it we need banks, we need bankers, we need traders, we need deal makers, we need investors, and we certainly need to start taking a few more risks. Without risk business growth does not exist, without banks businesses do not have the sufficient working capital and funding to grow, acquire businesses, enter new markets, and ultimately employ more people. Executive pay and the reward for failure has and always will be a contentious issue, but I get the feeling at the moment it is providing Gordon Brown and the government with a perfect distraction from there own failings and how badly they have managed the recession since the credit crunch.
Economists, politicians, and central banks continue to look for the financial equivalent of the philosopher’s stone, desperately trying to turn toxic assets back in to the gold they once were and get economies moving again. Ultimately however panaceas only exist in Greek mythology and as much gold dust as Barack Obama clearly has businesses need to start making decisions quickly on how to get through these tough times. Barack Obama can’t solve all the worlds’ problems and there will not be a sudden turnaround in fortunes, no matter how much we want it
Interim managers will have an increasingly important role to play when businesses get through the current decision paralysis and stop waiting for this said panacea. Bringing on board an experienced interim with operational and financial restructuring experience can provide a big shot in the arm and get a lot done in a very short time. They tend to have a different perspective from the ‘conventional wisdom’ that exists within a business and are focussed on solutions and the future rather than past failings. They are also able to draw a line in the sand and get people on board quickly as they are not attached to any of the problems that exist within the business. What the world needs now is experienced Interim Managers! Doug Baird is Managing Director and Head of the Private Equity Practice of Interim Partners.
It is an interesting time for those of us in the interim market place. I hear some of the providers are doing very well in this climate and others who are struggling to pick up new assignments. Due to the efforts of the team at Interim Partners I am pleased to report that we are within the former group and not the latter.
My understanding is that the market for interim managers is not suffering to the same extent as the permanent recruitment market, however, there are certainly more interims in the market and considerably more candidates who are interested in a first move into interim management. We spotted an interesting stat with Google that supports this – the relative number of searches on Google in the UK for the terms such as “interim jobs” has increased from an index of 68 in May 08 to 100 in Jan 09 (an increase of 47%). Could this rise in interest be attributed to the economic downturn?
We focus on placing candidates who have proven track records as interim managers. Equally we are keen to support those that are entering the market through choice and have made a real commitment to develop a track record as an interim manager. Unfortunately there will always be candidates who position themselves as interim managers but really are just looking for work to provide continuity of income before the next permanent position comes up. There is nothing wrong with this in principle because everyone wants to work although the provider community has a responsibility to spot this so it doesn’t put too much downward pressure on rates for genuine interim managers.
Ultimately I hope that the increased flow of candidates into interim management will prove to be good news. We want to attract high quality candidates into it and hope that awareness and the market itself will grow as a consequence.
Whilst on his current world wide PR tour promoting his latest airline venture in Australia Richard Branson took time out to inject a much needed dose of optimism into the current doom and gloom. If he could bottle it under the Virgin brand, which I wouldn’t put past him, he would be significantly richer than he already is.
It was certainly refreshing to hear an individual such as him make proclamations that the current environment is a fantastic opportunity for a new generation of entrepreneurs: “Fortunes are made out of recessions. A lot of entrepreneurs get going in the economic depths because the barriers to entry are lower,” he said.
There is no doubt that recessions are partly influenced by public sentiment and a feeling that the media is talking us further in to a recession. By the same token, perhaps we can also start to talk ourselves out of it. Clearly, this is an overly simplistic view of a very deep and complex crisis, but we are where we are and it is now up to every one of us to play our part in building a platform for future prosperity. Now is the time to weed out those poorly run companies and risky business practices that prospered in the good times, as Mr Branson says “If you are the best in your field, then don’t cut back on quality because good companies always survive”
With private equity deals and corporate M&A activity almost non-existent surely now is the time for investors and portfolio managers to be focused on making their current investments the very best they can be. They will probably not deliver the type of returns of recent times, but preserving existing value and structuring businesses to weather the current storm is surely the new name of the game. Instead of mourning the death of big, highly leveraged deals, it must focus on managing existing portfolio companies, even if investors would prefer them to cut their losses.
According to a recent article in the Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae9a607c-f3cf-11dd-9c4b-0000779fd2ac.html
‘Private equity must diversify so that it can benefit from the opportunities that the recession will produce. These may come from refinancing companies now that banks are reluctant to lend, and from engaging with governments that wish to harness private equity’s rare combination of having cash, more than $400bn to spend, and being willing to invest.
Making the case for involving private equity means a humbler tone too. Owning up to the folly of bingeing on cheap debt is a good start. It would also help to admit that the business model has yet to be thoroughly tested in a downturn: managing a buy-out sustainably now may need different skills from those that generate cash in good times.’
This is where is I believe the requirement for experienced hands on commercial interim managers and brave entrepreneurs and investors is of most relevance. Clearly, the skills required in recent times may now not suit the current climate as businesses have to focus on cash flow forecasts, working capital, protecting current value, restructuring the business to reduce unnecessary cost without weakening the core of the business. These skills will be in high demand in the coming months and the solution driven propositions of interim providers and interim managers will be well received.
Now is the time to focus on the job in hand and look to the future where opportunity will beckon once more. Endless postmortems of the current meltdown and constant obituaries of the ‘masters of the universe’ will get us no where. History tells us we have been here many times before and we have managed to recover each and every time. Now is no different; the talent, entrepreneurial and ‘blitz’ spirit that has always existed in the UK will see us through and the sun will shine once more. Doug Baird is Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Practice at Interim Partners.
I hope that demand for interims will remain strong in 09 although I believe that this can happen as long as the interim provider community can offer a broad range of skill sets and their interim managers can demonstrate the appropriate experience and track record to meet the challenges of the changing business environment.
In a buoyant marketplace many interims have prided themselves in being able to manage expansion programmes, develop new areas of business and bring top level experience to mergers and acquisition projects. While these skills are still part of the portfolio offered by Interim Partners and others in the interim community, there is now a greater requirement for a different range of specialist skills – those that reflect the needs of businesses going through a dramatic period of change caused by the rapid consolidation of markets and rationalisation of resources and capacity. Businesses are focusing on overhead cost control, cash generation, reducing stock and refining the supply chain. While in-house managers might have some experience here, specialist interims can provide more appropriate expertise.
At Interim Partners we have adapted to the changes in demand for interim managers as we have developed a portfolio of candidates offering diverse skills and experience suitable for today’s market. Many of our interims have proven track records in turnarounds and have operated during a recession before, both in the UK and internationally. This change is supported by our performance at the end of 08 and into 09. In January 09 we have placed a range of candidates in both the private and public sector. The common theme being one where there is a need for high quality senior managers and directors who can improve performance in a challenging marketplace.
Examples of some of the assignments where we have successfully placed candidates this year include: CEO to turnaround a private equity backed food business; CEO to rationalise manufacturing in a pharmaceutical company; CFO to improve cash position for chilled meats business and Supply Chain Director at a manufacturing company.
For a number of businesses the performance for the rest of this year is uncertain. Therefore it is not surprising that many of our clients have decided not to recruit on a permanent basis. They are, however, looking cautiously at the recruitment of interim managers. We, as interim providers, must make sure there is a clear understanding of the benefits that an interim can offer.
The advantages of being an experienced and committed interim manager are known to all of us if we are a provider or interim managers, however, it is important now more than ever to highlight the advantages to our clients. Especially as more candidates are going to enter the market this year due to redundancy, many of whom will have little intention of being an interim manager longer term.
Our message to our clients is built around the value added by an interim manager. Any interim must have the ability to hit the ground running in a short timeframe. The appointment of interim managers with wide experience across many companies, and typically over-qualified for the role they take on, enables them to advise, deliver and add value in a relatively short timeframe. While a full time employee may be able to bring these benefits, an interim has the advantage of being operational immediately, highly motivated but without being a long-term commitment or having the associated risks of being so.
Although the goal posts have changed, I am confident that interims are an excellent solution to many senior management challenges. By delivering results with minimum of delay, adding value and sharing their expertise they are a cost-effective route to recovery. It is now up to all of us within the interim community to ensure that our message is heard.
