When to Hire an Interim Executive Director

Are you looking for the ideal leader to help your company navigate its unique challenges?

Recruiting is an exciting process that, with the appropriate resources, yields great results. Nonetheless, without suitable resources, searching for a permanent hire can be an arduous and timely task. In fact, the board of directors of a non-profit can take up to nine months to recruit a new executive director. This doesn’t include the additional time necessary for training and on-boarding.

So, how can you find the leadership you need without putting your business on hold while you search? By investing in an interim executive director, you can gain the crucial expertise you need without the hassle of the permanent hire process.

The first step to finding the right interim hire is to understand when your business needs this hire. To help, we’ve compiled some common questions for you to ask yourself to determine your business’ needs.

How to Know if You Need an Interim Executive Director
Is Your Company Expanding?

Perhaps your company is looking to grow or is already on the path towards rapid expansion. Regardless, having the right leadership in place is important to guide this growth towards success. When asking this question, consider the type of growth your company is considering. For example, are you looking to add a new HR department or build onto a pre-existing department?

With this type of growth, it may be a challenge for your current HR director to handle a growing team on their own. Thus, hiring an interim executive director can help your leadership seamlessly manage its growth. In addition, hiring candidates for interim senior HR jobs can make building a team from scratch much easier than before.

Let’s say your interim candidate has a specialization in HR. With that focus, your interim executive director can quickly find the right candidates for you to hire when building up an HR department.

Has an Executive Director Recently Left?

A common reason for hiring interim talent is when a position suddenly opens up after an employee has left. Like we discussed before, performing a detailed search for a permanent hire can be time-consuming. Thankfully, you won’t have to go without the necessary leadership your team needs while you perform your search.

In general, an interim leader is hired for a set time-period while your leadership continues the search for a permanent replacement. Another advantage to hiring an interim director can be implementing a desired set of skills that an interim candidate has.

So, your team can benefit from learning these new skills to best prepare for the permanent candidate you will eventually hire. Thus, your team can be better prepared for this upcoming new hire.

Does Your Company’s Transition Need a Reliable Leader?

If you are planning a large-scale transition within your company, you may need an experienced leader. The reason an interim executive director is helpful in transition situations is due to the focus they bring with them.

As your interim hire will only work on the transition projects you intend for them, they can dedicate more time and effort to those projects alone. This focus can provide your important projects with the necessary attention and guidance they need to allow for a smooth transition in your company.

Additionally, making a permanent hire for temporary situations like a transition is not necessarily cost-effective. After all, you may not have much need for an interim director after your transition period has completed. In the end, the short timeline of an interim hire can be more beneficial cost-wise, as they will only work for you for as long as you need them to.

Are you looking for fitting interim talent for your business?  Contact the team at Interim HR Consulting to start your search for the talent you need today! 

IHR cannot and does not provide legal advice. It’s important to consult with qualified counsel before adopting any new policies. It’s also your responsibility to determine whether legal review of work product is necessary prior to implementation.