An expert in interim management, which she deploys every day at FAITHFUL EXECUTIVE, Dorothée BAUDE is a witness to a new era: the end of the permanent contract. Although it doesn’t assert this, it does observe it among its most experienced candidates, who are more likely to turn down internship opportunities in favor of a free career. Here’s how it works.

Initially reserved for large groups, Interim Management is increasingly gaining ground. With an annual growth rate of 17% according to an XERFI study, many SMEs are now turning to Interim Managers for prospective assignment formats of 4 to 5 months. In any case, that’s what we’ve seen in 2021 at FAITHFUL EXECUTIVE, with almost a dozen assignments from SMEs covering an increasingly wide range of functions. In addition to the traditional HR departments, general managers and finance directors, there are now sales, industrial and site departments, and even niche areas of expertise (particularly in the healthcare sector, such as consultant pharmacists and medical device consultants).

The exponential popularity of interim management echoes another trend that we are experiencing from the inside at FAITHFUL EXECUTIVE. For our interim managers specializing in transformation and/or turnaround assignments, internalization issues sometimes come up. What could be more legitimate? Aware of the shortage of such well-calibrated skills, organizations are keen to lock in their collaboration. Not to mention the great stories that can be woven and bonds forged. Except… times have changed and the CDI is no longer fashionable! While such requests used to result in permanent recruitment, today our Interim Managers decline them more systematically. And this is true whatever the organization’s offer and situation.

These profiles explain their choice very simply: they are too attached to their pivotal role, both strategic and ephemeral. What do they like best of all? Independently solve problems within a given timeframe. Once the diagnosis has been made, the astonishment report completed, the roadmap rolled out and the sustainability of the missions assured, their only desire is to leave to deploy the same system elsewhere. In a stimulating and, above all, new environment.

For nothing in the world, these Transition Managers would leave the agility of their situation, oriented towards operational efficiency, depoliticized and independent. Their status as sparring partners gives them unrivalled scope for action, and their reputation, guaranteed employability! On the other hand, a permanent contract, by definition, requires an established position and a relationship of subordination that they have long since freed themselves from. There’s no turning back now.