Snejana Koleva is currently working as a CFO in the large multinational corporation Transcom. In her role as leader of the finance department she has appointed several interim consultants. During the last two years she has temporarily hired an interim Head of Tax, an interim Head of Financial Control and an interim Group Consolidation Manager Expert.

Snejana Koleva is currently CFO in the large multinational corporation Transcom. During her professional career Snejana has mainly worked in large global companies. Before being recruited to Transcom she was the CFO of Rock Tools Division in the global industry group Sandvik. Being a key member of the management team in large multinational companies, she is no stranger to interim management and has worked with interim consultants in many roles.

To hire interim consultants is a proven concept world wide and maybe a bit more common abroad than in Sweden. Though I can tell it’s a growing market here as well, Snejana explains.

Within Transcom

The finance department has appointed three different interim consultants in a short period of only two years. Business critical strategic initiatives has been the reason behind recruiting temporary competence to run certain projects. Every role has initially been permanent and Transcom has used the interim consultants to fill the gap until the permanent replacement has been recruited. Snejana tells us that, in these situations, interim consultants have been the best alternative to not lose momentum within the organization. Transcom consists of 30.000 people, among 25 countries and has 80 locations globally. Naturally it’s an environment with many ongoing changes and dynamic projects.

”We’ve used interim management for key positions where the role can’t be empty even for a month. To recruit a permanent position can take up to six months, so we would lose valuable time that we need to manage the finance department and drive our projects forward. A vital part as to why we have an interim supplier is that they present consultants that are available right away and can deliver results in just a few days or weeks. ”

Snejana and Transcom are just one among many recurring clients who have hired several interim consultants via Interim Search. Recurring clients are often surprised by the simplicity and speed when it comes to appointing an interim consultant with the help of an interim supplier. Many management team members claim that it has great value for the rest of the organization that you have a solution to keep ongoing projects alive and quickly can attend to urgent key recruitments.

”Partly, I believe that a company who uses interim consultants can be more dynamic and fast paced when it comes to change management. Mainly, I think that the rest of our coworkers and organization can be inspired and motivated by not losing speed when you unfortunately lose a key person in the company. For me as CFO it’s a strong and well-needed tool to show that a qualified interim consultant can be in the office in no time and help us remain strong in current projects and work tasks.”

Do you believe that many interim consultants makes your organization more prone to change?
Not necessarily, however we minimize the risk of losing speed in our change projects when we can recruit someone right away, and don’t have to worry about business critical gaps where we stand without a key position to drive change.

Does having one interim need lead to more interim needs for you as a client?
No, however as a recurring client I think your competence within the field grows. You’re aware that interim management can mean a lot of different positions with a width of roles. I myself have only appointed consultants within finance, but I know there is a a good demand for interim roles within Supply Chain, Human Resources and so on. Even within finance we have recruited a wide range from Group Consolidation to Financial Controlling and Tax. For every role we have recruited I have been very satisfied with the simplicity and speed of the the process to find and appoint the right person.

I also want to point out that even if we’ve had many interim consultants over the last year I feel that they are a natural part of our internal organization almost right away. We don’t treat them any different from the rest of our Transcom colleagues and they quickly find their place within our company. Sometimes it’s hard for me to view them as interim consultants, they’re like any other colleague, Snejana adds.

Interim consultants as any other colleague, might be what the future holds. Snejana herself thinks that the demand within the Swedish interim market is increasing. A more flexible and fast paced labor market, where you have longer professional careers that demand more variety and competence development, all point to a growing market for consultants.

When you need the right competence quickly and can’t risk losing momentum in current business critical projects, interim management is hard to beat. For global companies like Transcom, interim management is a proven concept, Snejana finishes.