FSN’s research confirms that most finance functions are resource constrained. Two-thirds expect headcount to remain the same or decrease in 2024/25, while at the same time the workload is increasing. Even where organizations do have permission to recruit, finding the right hires with the required skills can be extremely challenging.
In fact, FSNTalent’s 2024 recruitment survey points out that 91% of CFOs say that attracting and retaining finance talent is their biggest challenge, closely followed by 88% who say that up-skilling existing staff for new skills such as AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics is an ever-present concern.
Against this background, more and more CFOs are turning to the interim market to fill the gaps in their capability, without permanently stretching their headcount. The interim market holds a number of profound advantages:
1. Backfilling Critical Positions: The ability to backfill a critical permanent position at short notice pending the recruitment of a permanent replacement.
2. Access to Specialist Skills: The ability to find specialist skills that can't be justified on a permanent basis.
3. Process Improvement: The ability to tackle much-needed process improvement or implement other changes when there isn’t the slack in the current timetable for the finance team to take this on.
4. Skill Acquisition: The possibility of using an interim to relieve a permanent employee from their day-to-day work to allow them to focus on acquiring new skills and responsibilities.
5. Temporary Resources: The freedom to bring in additional resources on a temporary, short-term basis and being able to terminate without any wider implications.
6. Risk-Free Supplementation: A relatively risk-free approach to supplementing resources because the arrangement can be terminated at short notice.
In a virtuous cycle, more professionals, especially baby boomers (those born 1946 to 1964) are leaving the permanent workforce and are attracted by circumstances to take on shorter-term roles where they can share a lifetime of experience and achieve a better work/life balance.
Most of the interims registered with FSNTalent can hit the ground running and often have very broad industry and sector experience. Another advantage that is frequently overlooked is that baby boomers do not have young families to care for, making them more flexible about travel for work or hybrid working. This means that hiring organizations, especially manufacturers, have renewed agility to fill positions in remote locations where it can be difficult to attract permanent staff.
If you would like to hire an interim finance professional, contact us at FSNTalent. Gary.simon@fsntalent.com or Michelle.fabian@fsntalent.com
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