Interim careers: Making a successful transition and building your brand

You know you want to make the transition to become an interim consultant, but how do you ensure its successful? What attributes do you need and how do you build a strong reputation in the market? In our second article in our four-part series, Nick Allwood speaks to our panel of four specialist interims operating within the HR and People space – Wendy Ramshaw (ED&I Consultant), Sharon Bloor (Strategic HRD & Consultant), Melanie Bowes (HR Consultant & Coach) and Simon Schumann Davies (People Director) about their tips for successful transition and how you can build your own personal brand.

Making a successful transition

For Wendy, there have been several factors which enabled her to make a successful transition, “The first one is having a great network. As soon as I left a client facing role, I stopped networking as much which, looking back, was short sighted. I therefore invested time into nurturing and growing my network of contacts, trusted advisers and sponsors that would be mutually beneficial. The second is financial planning. Not having that regular income and benefits package was initially quite daunting but by talking to trusted financial experts I was able to make the transition work for my personal situation. The third element was being honest about what motivates and energises me so that I could make better choices about the organisations that I want to work with.”

Sharon however, initially relied on the support of an agency to secure her first interim role, which allowed her the time to build up a network in her preferred location whilst still working. “I used my current network and agency contacts to connect with new contacts and attended networking events relevant to my role and offering. I got my second role as a contractor through attending a networking event. You need to build your reputation, credibility and profile. I did this through networking and LinkedIn. I spoke with a LinkedIn specialist who gave me key pointers and a framework of how to build a profile that has the right keywords, will showcase your speciality that will attract people to your profile page. It’s important to find your sweet spot – what makes you different to other HR professionals.”

“I'm definitely still in the transition phase” says Mel. “But it has been relatively successful so far and I think that's down to doing as much preparation as possible before making the leap. Things tend to take a bit longer than you might think, so it's a good idea to do things like registering the company and setting up a bank account and email as soon as possible.”

As Simon’s transition happened by chance, he drew on the experience of his permanent roles, which up to that point had involved a considerable amount of change and had covered several different sectors and organisations, “I think this really helped me to succeed. There is never a one-size-fits-all solution to people issues and you have to be flexible. I think a lack of fear of change and the flexibility of approach helped me enormously.”

Key attributes for a prosperous interim career

You have the HR experience gained throughout your career. You’ve navigated numerous people scenarios successfully and confidently, but what else do you need to brush up on when building an interim career?

For Wendy that includes being able to acclimatise and deliver impact quickly to demonstrate specialist experience and skills, “I was given some great advice that it is not about your first 90 days, but about what you do in those first 90 hours to build momentum. Being able to draw on past-experience and then adapting it to create a bespoke solution in your current environment means that you also have to be innovative and dynamic. Staying curious helps - being an interim or a consultant gives you that freedom to probe and dig into things which is great. My natural curiosity sometimes gets the better of me, so I frequently refer to the defined success outcomes to ensure that I do not wander too far! I have found that emotional intelligence is by far the best attribute though. It allows you to build trust quickly and foster productive relationships that enable you to drive action.”

“Being versatile and curious, ask lots of questions, so that you can start to connect the dots quickly and have an impact quickly”, says Sharon. “Communication - listen and check understanding, both yours and theirs - particularly in the beginning as you learn about the organisation (how it works, it’s key players and the culture). Building trust and credibility with key stakeholders (C-Suite, Senior leaders but also the colleagues you will work with). Be aware of your natural learning style and look to develop any areas that could influence how quickly you might be able to have an impact. Identify and build genuine relationships with your allies.”

Mel believes resilience is paramount when navigating the uncertainty of being a contractor, “Definitely resilience, it can be an emotional rollercoaster and you need to be able to back yourself in periods of no work, not quite enough work and even too much work. I've also had to draw on skills that I didn't know I had, like being in my own IT and marketing departments.”

Simon’s advice comes from one of his former bosses, “His words sum it up for me better than I ever could – he said ‘we are paid to be consultants. That means the client is paying us a great deal of money to provide a level of knowledge and expertise that they don’t have. We are obligated to serve the best interests of the client even if this is in direct conflict with what they have specifically instructed us to do.’ Understanding the client’s real needs, being flexible in your approach, working your backside off to deliver and always remembering that you are being paid to do something that the client cannot do. If you want to retain the client or, equally critically for your career, maintain your reputation for future opportunities, these factors are critical.”

Building your personal brand

It’s easy to confuse our reputation as our personal brand. But that’s not true - everyone has a reputation. The first impressions you make, the relationships you form with clients and peers, as well as how you communicate — all of these things impact how others see you. Your personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It is how you want people to see you.

“Your personal brand is what people say about you when you leave the room, so it is helpful to gain insight into how you are perceived to identify any blind spots. Once you have a sense of that identity, it is important to be consistent and align your behaviours accordingly” highlights Wendy. “Whilst there will always be elements that you want to aspire to, your brand identity needs to be authentic otherwise it will be exhausting to continually be something that you are not naturally. Utilise avenues like LinkedIn to create narratives that evidence your brand identity and ensure that when you communicate with others you bring that narrative to life.”

From blind spots to sweet spots, Sharon feels highlighting those, alongside recommendations from clients, is the key to building a successful personal brand. “Identify what your sweet spot is and build that into your LinkedIn profile (including key words), but also ask those you’ve worked and delivered for to endorse and provide recommendations on your LinkedIn profile as validation of what you have delivered (this is easier said than done and I would recommend you get commitment to this before you leave the business). You can build your own website but that takes money, and LinkedIn is a powerful tool if used properly. Creating the right profile, getting recommendations and being active on Linked does help (i.e. share articles you like, believe in or supports what you offer as a service – i.e. shows value in what you do). Your network is also important in building your brand.”

“Network. Network. Network” says Mel. “I'm hugely introverted and never thought I'd say this, but I have really enjoyed getting to know some incredible people over the last few months. Now I'm more comfortable networking, I'm working to be more intentional about how I network and how I can communicate the services that I offer.”

Whilst networking and self-marketing is not a strength Simon feels he has, he relied on doing the job to the best of his ability and building his reputation that way: “I have obtained a huge proportion of my assignments on personal referral. I guess for me, it’s about doing the best job I can do and hoping the client is happy enough to tell his/her friends about me.”

Next steps?

Considering making the switch but unsure on what day rate you can command for your role and sector? Download our HR Insights report and salary survey now.

Look out for our next issue where we cover tips to make a successful transition, and how to build your personal brand as an interim specialist.

If you missed our first issue on making the switch, click here to have a read!

Get in touch

Should you wish to have a confidential chat with Nick Allwood to discuss the current HR market or your search for work/recruiting into your team, please contact him directly at nallwood@mdhr.co.uk

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