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Life as an Interim: Key Takeaways From Our 2018 Bridging the Gap Report

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Life as an Interim: Key Takeaways From Our 2018 Bridging the Gap Report

In 2018, we published our Bridging the Gap report, which focuses on the communications, digital and marketing interim market. With over 250 responses, the report covered the profile of an interim, IR35, the interim recruitment landscape, as well as case studies on digital marketing and change communications. We’ve already seen several shifts in the market since the report was published, so here are some key takeaways of our 2018 report:

Interims are highly experienced

Interims need to be able to hit the ground running so it’s no surprise that experienced communications and marketing professionals make up the bulk of the interim market. In the report, we found that over 60% of respondents had more than 15 years’ experience. Interims who are brought into an organisation should be able to identify and solve problems within a limited time, whether that’s tackling a change comms programme or revitalising a digital strategy, so having the experience to do so proves vital. However, at VMA GROUP, we’ve seen a shift into more junior communications, digital and marketing interim roles becoming available on the market. This could be due to the changing nature of communications and marketing departments within organisations, but also due to the demands and needs as a result of external forces.

Interims are not put off by IR35

According to a survey by Brookson Legal, more than half of UK firms are considering a blanket approach to IR35, with organisations such as Lloyds Bank, Barclays and GSK already making the decision to not hire limited company contractors. With 67% of respondents in our Bridging the Gap survey stating that they work through a limited company, these kind of decisions could have a drastic impact on project based work within organisations, due to the potential loss of talent. Andy Chamberlain, Deputy Director of Policy at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), has stated that a reduction in the number of contractors organisations take on could lead to a drop in overall productivity. Unsurprisingly, we found that 76% of respondents disagree with the government proposal to roll out IR35 to the private sector. However, despite the uncertainty and chaos, we found that 56% of respondent