Curing senior level shortages

'It's becoming increasingly easy to find work as an interim manager in investment banking,' says Richard Potez, who has worked on interim contracts in investment banking for seven years. 'Although the idea that you can pick up a temp at a high level remains beyond the grasp of some banks, others are seeing the benefits more and more clearly,' he says.

Interim managers are executives, generally at a very senior level, who are expected to have a long history of high achievement behind them. Unlike consultants, who only advise, interims actually make decisions and are best used where there is a skills gap, explains Brian Rivers of PricewaterhouseCoopers' interim management arm.

Tony Child at interim management firm, Ashton Penney, adds: 'An interim manager tends to be an above-capacity person who can hit the ground running.'

Ashton Penney is one of more than a dozen firms supplying interim managers to investment banks. PricewaterhouseCoopers Protem, owned by Heidrick & Struggles EIM, owned by Egon Zehnder Board Level Interim Executive and Global Executives are some of the others. Ashton Penney's clients come from all sectors, but founder Bill Penney says that growth in the investment banking market has been significant in recent years.

Although Penney confesses to wanting to supply interims to front-office positions, he is unlikely to do so. Client confidentiality and relationship issues make banks reluctant to appoint temps here.

But interims lend themselves well to the middle and back offices. In many cases they are used when a vacancy suddenly arises and will take a while to fill, hence the association with search firms such as Heidrick & Struggles and Egon Zehnder.

The average interim assignment lasts six months, giving firms time to look around.

As well as being used in an emergency, interim managers are increasingly being used out of choice. When it comes to change management, they are often favoured over consultants and permanent staff. A recent Mori survey commissioned by Board Level Interim Executive found that only 9% of analysts and 26% of investors thought consultants were more effective and suitable for change projects than interims.

'If you're in a company and you are career-minded, then you have to be careful what you say. But if you're an interim manager, you can be more blunt, and point out that things are not going to get done unless changes are made,' says Paul Kennedy, previously an interim manager and currently a director at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Slimmed-down organisations and flat hierarchies are also creating work for interims. 'Nowadays there are no spare managers hanging around with nothing to do. The good thing about an interim manager is that you can parachute them in if there is a project that needs doing. You know that you'll get a good-quality result and that there will be minimal fuss,' says Andrew Pullman, head of HR for global markets at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.

Pullman has used interim managers for both a risk management project and for selling part of the business. He believes that they will be increasingly used in the future.

He says: 'Consultants were first in vogue a few years ago, now it is time for interim managers. In future there is likely to be a growing number of these managers, contractors and temporary employees because it is more cost effective.'