Link, share, join, listen ...
Link, share, join, listen ...
I wanted to communicate to the whole Interim Partners community following a couple of problems this week with the posting of assignments. Whilst I was looking to explain what happened on the site over the past few days, I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight what we hope to get out of the site as well as what we want the interim management community to experience.
Firstly let me explain the fault from this week. We have investigated the cause of the problem and the result is that a failed web-link that is supposed to take the user from our assignment alerts on LinkedIn, to our website www.interimpartners.com where there is more detail. I apologise if this has affected you however this fault on the LinkedIn platform is beyond our control. We will continue to monitor our LinkedIn Group and we have checked that the RSS feeds that automatically publish our assignments from our website are present and correct.
Could I advise the following: Should you see an assignment on LinkedIn that does not have a working link to the IP website please report it to our LinkedIn group manager, flag as inappropriate or contact one of our offices.
Secondly the purpose for our site and how we think you could get the best out of the site I have broken down below:
What do we use LinkedIn For?
We use linked in as a distribution channel to promote and drive traffic to our website. It can be used as a news feed so you can see the type of assignments we handle as well as a forum for blogging.
Interim Partners provides visibility on our assignments because the feedback from our interim managers was that they preferred to see what we were handling. LinkedIn provides convenience because you will probably view and return to LinkedIn more frequently than our own site.
Our priority.
Interim Partners’ priority is to work with talented interim managers, who make it their permanent profession. Attracting new talent is important for a growing business with big ambitions. However, we are keen to confine our support to candidates who are seeking ongoing assignments as senior interims, as opposed to offering a route to permanent employment. We endeavour to meet as many interims as we can. Unfortunately we can’t commit to seeing everyone, especially if they are new to interim management, do not have senior level experience, or are outside the sectors that we specialise in.
Our LinkedIn group is not open to everyone.
The group is for professional interim managers who have successful track records. We target only a small range of clients who have very specific needs so we can’t be everything for everybody. We are far more likely to have success in working with you if you have significant experience of working in large complex organisations at a senior level. If you do not then there is a much smaller chance that we are able to work with you. We are happy for others who are on the periphery of Interim management to join our group and remain un-registered on our site because they may be interested in our news or blogs however we are unable to accept applications for assignments from them.
Assignment alerts posted on LinkedIn.
Many of our assignments are posted on our website and on other channels such as this LinkedIn group. We send or post email alerts to keep you informed. The assignments are duplicated across a number of media – so if you are across the web there is a good chance that you may see the assignment listed in two places, please look at the assignment references. We do not pre-qualify who receives email alerts or who can read the LinkedIn posts. They are posted for everyone in the group to see. This means many assignments may not be appropriate for you. Our aim is to get the balance right between informing the market and maintaining client confidentiality. If an alert is not of interest, please delete it or forward it to someone in your network who may appreciate it.
If you wish to apply for an assignment it is essential that you are registered on our website www.interimpartners.com and that we have met you. We need sufficient information from you at the outset because we often need to react to our clients very quickly. If you comment that you “like this” next to the assignment posting we will not be able to acknowledge your application and if we do not hold your details on file we are simply not in a position to assess if you are suitable or not.
Based outside of the UK?
We do have a track record of assisting clients with international assignments; however, we will often place UK-based candidates with them. This is because we will have had the opportunity to meet them, assess their skills and take references. Therefore, if you are based outside of mainland UK and unable to meet us, there will be less opportunity for us to work with you. As our business grows and develops we hope to develop an international footprint.
Feedback on applications.
The dynamics of the interim market have changed over the last decade. Technology has significantly increased the level of applications we receive for assignments posted on the internet. We aim to provide a consultative service to everyone in our candidate community; however, whilst we acknowledge all applications we are unable to write back with detailed feedback as to why it has been unsuccessful. If we have interviewed you please refer to the consultant you met who will provide feedback. If you have applied to a few assignments and are frustrated that you have not made progress please call us. We hope all our interim managers will want to engage with us but will understand the vagaries of the market and demands of our clients.
It’s about relationships.
Building close relationships with our clients and interim managers is absolutely key to us sharing success. We recognise that there are many high quality interim managers interested in fewer assignments. Our chances of making the right recommendations to clients will be much improved if we have a good, all round understanding of your strengths so that we can promote these accurately to our client base. There is no short cut to developing a relationship. We need to get to know you because if a suitable assignment arises we need to be able to fully recommend you and suggest why you are more suitable than another interim manager. Please work with us, keep us informed, provide feedback on our service and invest time in building a long-term relationship with us.
Our expectations.
We expect all those that we accept into this group to ensure that all communication is honest, open and professional. It is important that we can verify who you are and will not accept applications to join the group from those that will not provide full contacts details or whom we believe are using an alias or secondary profile on LinkedIn Anyone who deviates from what we believe to be acceptable behaviour will be removed from the group.
Using social media is a brave new world and we won’t always get it right. Our overriding purpose is to promote interim management and help our interim managers. I hope the above provides more clarity on what we are able to do with our LinkedIn members. For further information please contact us.
We look forward to working with you.
Simon Gough is Director of Interim Partners.
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March 4th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
A good, clear explanation. Thank you
Regards
Barry Ryan
March 4th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Hi Simon
Great blog. Thanks for letting us all know about the resolution of the issue with Linkedin. Good luck with Linkedin in future. It really is a great tool when used properly. I use it a lot.
Tight control of LI group membership is essential in my view and I applaud you for your deciding to do this. As with other Social Media it’s important to remember why you’re using it and keep a focus on that. For example, I’m often puzzled as to why the quality end of the IM market uses it to advertise assignments, which would otherwise have been held as confidential to the client and select interim candidates. Surely this affects competitive advantage of everyone in the longer term, as it dilutes USPs and increases competition greatly.
Moreover, it drives savvy clients to either go direct and cut out the middleman or use a cheaper recruitment consultant.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to working with Interim Partners soon.
March 7th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Hi Tony
Thanks for your response. We advertise for a number of reasons but I appreciate that posting assignments can look a bit grubby and other IM’s have pointed this out too. Ultimately we want to make sure we identity the best candidates for our clients and posting assignments on the web really does work.
Advertising is important for getting into new markets where our network is thin, different geographical areas – some of the assignments we have posted recently are based in Asia and Africa. It is also useful for markets such financial services which has seen significant increases in demand. There have been many new entrants into FS and a number of clients are more concerned as to their calibre and experience in FS than whether they have been an interim before. An example being, one of the key people delivering a divestment from a bank – a major programme, is a first time interim.
Importantly – we are a relative newcomer in the market and there are still plenty of interims we don’t know. Over the last 12 months we have had numerous instances when an interim has approached us and said- “I haven’t really looked for the last three years and I didn’t visit your London office when I last searched”. We have to tell them we didn’t have a London office three years ago.
Why do we use LinkedIn to advertise? It’s rapidly become the world’s largest connected network of business people. We may need to refine our approach as LinkedIn develops and as candidates become more accustomed to using it. The roles are only going to our group members. These are people who have applied to be part of the group. We believe this is why IM’s join our group in the first place – to gain visibility on what we are doing. I might do some research into why people join our group so can’t say definitively but surely it can’t be to read our blogs! You will have also spotted that a number of our competitors have LinkedIn groups but don’t do anything with them. You join and that’s it- no info, no assignments- why bother?
I should also point out that is free and totally automated- very easy to set up. We always have the permission from our clients and they are interested to know how we attract new IM’s to work with us however clients are not accepted into the group. Obviously roles that are confidential don’t appear on our site or LinkedIn.
The downsides to using LinkedIn are apparent – too much visibility is a bad thing- we have unsuitable candidates approaching us for roles they have seen posted. However, the worst thing about it is that it creates a false impression – lots of assignments posted/ 2 clicks to say they are interested /we can only provide limited info which doesn’t rule that many out/ the roles should look attractive as why advertise? It also builds unrealistic expectations as some have joined our group and then think the next step is to wait for the phone to ring.
Many of our competitors post assignments on the web or in groups – this is not a reason to do it as well but indicates that it is probably working for them too. Websites such as Executive appointments (part of the FT) are extremely well established and consistently deliver high calibre responses.
I have seen many describe social media as a brave new world – it is for us too and I imagine it will be a number of months more before myself and my colleagues fully understand how to get the very best from it.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Simon
Thanks for your lengthy, comprehensive and clear explanation of how you think of and use Linkedin as a business tool. I think that many of us are relatively new to using social media to unearth opportunities, so it is useful to understand Interim Partners thinking. Certainly there are very few providers using LinkedIn seriously (as it were), so well done.