A recent article on CNN, entitled “Say goodbye to full-time jobs with benefits“, discusses the trend we are seeing towards an interim workplace. Employers are looking to simply get work done, not necessarily add to headcount. The article does a good job of describing the trend and why it exists. Ultimately it understates how high up the corporate ladder this change is taking place and for how long the change will occur.
The fastest growing part of our business is our interim marketing executive jobs. Not necessarily the Chief Marketing Officer, but every position reporting to the CMO is now open for a discussion on whether it needs to be a permanent headcount or whether the needs of the corporation are better served by an interim professional.
Historically our contract staffing business has been more tactical (junior level) professionals and our executive search group handled placing marketing executives directly into corporations. Currently our contract staffing business is experiencing growth, but it is at the senior strategic level where we are seeing the biggest shift. Now for every two senior searches we engage in, one is for an interim marketing executive.
This shift is significant and logical. The world is changing quickly and as a CMO, the talent you need today might not be the talent you need a year from now. Are you sure you want to invest in full-time headcount when the world around you dictates their skills might be less relevant to you in a year? Do you really need an expensive marketing consultant when an interim marketing professional with strategy and implementation experience is available to you?
The shifts in the marketplace regarding an increased pace of change and continued pressure on costs are here to stay, which means this trend is here to stay as well, long after unemployment dips back below 5%.
