The Odgers Interim US offering: A six-month review

Paul Smith, Managing Partner of Odgers Interim US, discusses the first six months of the Odgers Interim US extension, looking at the progress made and more generally at the state of the US interim market

The last six months have been a whirlwind. Following an extensive information gathering and database populating exercise, we landed on the east coast in January and quickly put down roots in Boston and New York. Throughout this half of the year, we have proceeded to build on this process of research, expansion and growth.

Like with many organisations, the first half of 2020 has been broken into two separate time periods. In the ‘pre-corona phase’, January to March, the business exceeded all expectations. The first three months of the year saw us make a number of significant interim appointments, specifically in the CFO, HRD and CEO space. Interest from clients was building with every conversation as we discussed how interim management was more than gap filling, but short-term expertise and an injection of leadership.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic did slow momentum suddenly. The outbreak of the virus and the lockdown measures have changed our dynamic, as with many organisations in the US - the country being one of the worst affected globally. Despite business easing back, we continue to have interesting conversations with clients across the US - from California to New York, and from Boston and Washington DC over to Texas. Our reach is still expanding as we endeavor to establish ourselves country-wide and build the interim market in business hot spots.

Currently, we are seeing a few trends in interim work. Private equity continues to be a sector highly engaged with the interim product. We have seen a particular interest in interim work for their technology and life science portfolio companies. The other key area we have broken ground in has been the education industry. For all, interim CFO’s, CEO’s and HRD’s have been in most demand.

The past six months have allowed us to settle in and become more aware of the true potentiality of the US interim market. Speaking personally, I have been truly impressed by the number and quality of the interim candidate population. My expectation was of a finite pool of highly experienced executives, but the deeper I search the more outstanding candidates I am finding and growing this pool far and wide – covering an expansive range of sectors and roles. This has been greatly enhanced by the support of the US Odgers Berndtson Partners who have embraced the interim product and offered referrals from offices throughout the country.

We are already starting to see the tides change as we ease out of lockdown and return to a form of ‘normality’ - whatever that may be. For the second half of the year, we expect the interim executive product to continue on its previous growth trajectory and be the resource of choice for many clients wanting a quick, agile innovative talent solution.

For more information please contact Paul Smith.