Finance Directors at a Crossroads – Permanent, Interim or Portfolio and why the choice is (not) always yours

David Clark, Director of Interim and Transformation at Headstar, reflects on the crossroads many senior finance professionals face after leaving a role, and the decisions they must make about their next career move.

Navigating Career Crossroads

You’ll often find me in a coffee shop advising a Finance Director (or CFO) at a crossroads in their career, having recently left their last role.

We’ll work on how they talk about their exit if it’s been a tricky one (click here to watch my video on this topic) but most of my time will be spent advising on what to do next.

I’m nearly always told, ‘I could go back into a permanent role, but I could become an interim or a portfolio FD – all options are open to me’.

Well, yes, they are, but also, no, they’re not really.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to looking at your career options, is remembering that you’re the most marketable to jobs similar to those you have been doing most recently. There’s no point arguing with that fact as it’s just human nature; people or businesses have certain challenges, so they’re most interested in people who have overcome those specific challenges already, more than they are convinced by those who haven’t. Everyone pursuing a career will have benefited from this phenomenon in several, if not all, their previous senior moves. All routes might appear ‘open’ to you, but because of a lack of track record in some of them, the permanent one is a greased-up water slide at Centre Parcs compared with the others.

That sounds like a bit of a lecture though and many don’t appreciate my humour, so instead I make the point with this simple question;

‘How are you going to compete with the established interims or portfolio FDs already on the market?’

Which is usually enough to plant everyone’s feet firmly on the ground and focus their minds.

We all know that success demands commitment. And it’s hard to commit to something when you don’t really know much about it. So, my first step is to demystify what each route will deliver.

What is life really like as an interim or a portfolio FD?

Which of your skills and characteristics will be heavily leant on throughout? How much flexibility will you really get? What does this work actually look like day-to-day? How does all this fit in with who you are and what you want out of life?

I start here because if you don’t commit to a route upfront, in most cases, the market will make the choice for you. And it’ll likely be very similar to what you were doing beforehand.

Truthfully, for interim or portfolio, you’re the new kid on the block, the rookie, the gamble in many business owners’ eyes. And that’s a reasonable assessment from where they’re standing, because at this level, they’re asking you to deliver some pretty important stuff with expensive consequences if you get it wrong. They’re not interested in your motivations or your potential, because as soon as you start charging a day rate, you become a supplier seeking a client, not an employee looking for a boss.

To show you what I mean, here’s some feedback I’ve had from business owners who have interviewed immediately available Finance Directors who are openly ‘considering all options’.

‘I’m not convinced they’re convinced this is what they want to do’

‘I just can’t have them leave for a permanent job halfway through this project’

‘I like them but there’s someone else in the process who’s been doing it for the last 5 years and I like them too.’

So, how do you actually take the right turn at the crossroads?

I don’t mean to dampen anyone’s spirits by the way.

I’m a big believer that anyone can break into any market they want to, but the point I’m making is that it takes a real concerted effort to do so. And step one is to consciously decide that’s what you’re going to do. After that we can map out where your logical space is in the market, put together a pitch you’re comfortable with and turn your CV into a targeted marketing document that hits all the right notes.

If you’re a Finance Director at a crossroads, don’t buy into the illusion of choice. You’re not pushing on an open door, you’re pushing past a crowd blocking your path.

You’ve got to convince yourself of the right route and commit to it first, if you’re going to stand a chance convincing anyone else to commit to taking you on.