Ben Mitchell, Head of Interim at The Work Crowd, shares insights on the unique landscape of interim recruitment, the benefits it offers to both businesses and professionals and how organisations can maximise the value of interim talent. 

What led you to interim recruitment? 

I started my career as a journalist over 20 years ago before moving into media relations and then corporate communications, primarily in PS, FS & Legal. 

Post-Covid, I found myself at a crossroads. I wanted to use the skills and experiences I’d accumulated to help others at various stages of their careers. I also wanted to leverage my knowledge of the communications landscape and stay in sector. The skills from my previous career – handling deadline pressure, managing crisis situations, working with stakeholders – all translate well in the interim world, where clients need the best possible service in the shortest amount of time. 

Let’s talk about interim recruitment. What's the difference between interim and permanent recruitment? 

When hiring permanently, you usually have more time to play with. There’s more at stake in terms of cultural fit, career development, team chemistry and the long-term strategic plans of a business. This typically requires multiple interview stages, so you have time to cast a wide net. 

Freelancing is much more focused on individuals managing their own portfolio careers, often on a part-time or fractional basis, and is typically project-led. 

Interim recruitment falls somewhere between these two. You're filling a specific gap usually created by maternity/paternity leave, sick leave, or significant transformation projects. It might be a business that has been through change or restructuring or perhaps a specific projects where someone with a particular skillset is required to drop in, complete a task and exit. Essentially, you're hiring what is, for all intents and purposes, a permanent candidate for a fixed period of time. 

What are the strategic advantages for organisations hiring interim talent? 

Typically, when hiring a contractor, you're getting someone at mid-to-senior level who will often offer a wealth of additional expertise beyond the original brief. Interim professionals allow you to maintain seamless service even when facing staff shortages or departures: you can quickly plug gaps and ensure business continuity. 

You're also getting people who are experienced contractors. They understand how to integrate smoothly into different environments and can pick up projects quickly without extensive hand-holding. While proper onboarding remains important, it is typically less intensive than for permanent hires. 

And what trends are you seeing in the interim recruitment landscape right now?  

Interim was hit by the same economic headwinds as everyone else. However, it has also recovered more quickly, partly because it carries less budgetary commitment.  

Economic conditions aside, certain situations will always create demand for interim talent: people will still take maternity/paternity leave, people will still get sick or leave their jobs. Corporate activity has continued with reasonable regularity over the last couple of years, leading to reasonable volumes of change and transformation programmes, a natural driver for interim opportunities.  

Digital literacy is a key element for many interim roles and while demand for highly-specialised contractors remains strong, interim assignments increasingly require professionals to add value in a number of different areas. Career moves once iced in the aftermath of the pandemic are also now back in the frame, leading to gaps that good interims are primed to fill.  

What are the biggest challenges businesses face when hiring interim talent?  

Everyone's budgets are tight, and having come through a significant financial squeeze, people remain more conscious of their spending, including recruitment and interim cost.  However, the economic cost of not having a properly-resourced team for any period of time can be far greater in the longer term.   

Over-stretched comms departments are unlikely to produce the same quality output or provide the support required, leading to new fault-lines & avoidable stress points in the wider functions.  Equally, our experience tells us that not investing in adequate maternity or paternity cover can have significantly negative impacts on both corporate reputation and staff wellbeing & longevity.   

Cutting corners in the short-term will inevitably lead to wider issues over time so I would always advise working with a skilled, specialist interim recruiter to help avoid these pitfalls.    

And how can organisations work to overcome that challenge and get the most out of a talent strategy that includes interim support? 

It’s important to understand the value of interim support. And, on that note, the value of working with specialist recruiters to get the most out of your interim strategy.  

Specialists give clients a high degree of understanding of their industry and the wider communications market. With interim specifically, you're dealing with a distinct group of candidates who are at different career stages, bring different skills, and operate differently from permanent candidates. Ideally, you need someone to help navigate that. 

How does The Work Crowd support organisations with interim recruitment?

We're true specialists in our field. We work seamlessly with our sister company, Hanson Search, a permanent executive search specialist and talent advisory firm within this space, so clients benefit from both networks and a multi-layered approach. Our deep industry experience and extensive network of pure-play contractors, interim professionals, and freelancers mean we can quickly connect organisations with the right talent.

What sets us apart is our understanding of the market. Few recruiters or agencies combine our level of interim expertise with hands-on industry experience. Our search team has years of experience, and we pride ourselves on being both responsive and personable.

One of our service pledges is to provide shortlists within approximately 48 hours, barring any mitigating circumstances. If you have an urgent interim need — whether it’s covering unexpected departures, plugging a resource gap, or supporting a transformation project — that's where we step in and deliver real value quickly.

While The Work Crowd is not a certified B Corp, our sister company within the group holds this accreditation, and we work closely together to ensure we uphold shared values of fairness, quality, and integrity in our approach. This collaborative structure allows us to offer tailored solutions that balance speed, expertise, and long-term strategic impact.