The career goals are achieved, the 60-hour workweek is growing old and there really isn’t much ladder left to climb. Still, you just can’t imagine devoting yourself full time to travel, grandchildren or golf.

It may be time to consider becoming a temp, but not one who answers phones or does the filing. Experienced executives are finding their skills in great demand, on a part-time basis, at area companies.

Just don’t call them consultants, an image that conjures up freshly minted MBAs with no real-world experience. These are proven, seasoned former executives hired for short-term assignments with decision-making authority. This practice, popularly referred to as “rent a CEO,” is prevalent among companies in Europe and is slowly gaining popularity in the United States.

And here’s the kicker: This is a case where reverse age discrimination is proudly practiced.

“In general, people don’t come into their own as interim leaders until they’re in their 50s, 60s and 70s,” says Mark Rittmanic, founder of Northbrook-based ForteCEO Inc., where 90 percent of the 190 available executives are over age 55. “We look for people who have evolved beyond the point where they need their name on the door. They can effectively work with, and under, a less capable leader, and rather than taking over, they can train that person to take over.”

Hiring his own replacement and moving onto another assignment is the goal of Richard Earley, who is working 60-hour weeks as an executive vice president of business development and sales at TrueSource Inc., a software startup in Libertyville. Earley, a former software company executive, was retired for 18 months before he decided to try temporary work. “I played as much golf as I could play and visited the grandkids,” the Glen Ellyn resident says. “Then, you sit back and say, ‘I’m not ready to do this, to just sit back.’ ”

He’s been at TrueSource since September 2004, first as a contract employee with ForteCEO and now as an employee of TrueSource. At first, he didn’t even have a title, but found that having one was helpful in negotiating with potential customers.

“I’ll finish what I started here and get these guys up and running,” says Earley, 60. “You’re not caught up in the titles and the power trip. You’re caught up in the success and making others successful.”

Who’s the best candidate for temporary work? Interim-executive search firms seek managers with financial sophistication, leadership and managerial skills and industry experience. Executives have to know how to delegate and be seeking only short-term or project-based work, not the next full-time, long-term job. Taking a temporary post can be an ideal fit for people who like to travel part of the year.

On average, assignments range from three months to a year and frequently involve events like a merger, acquisition or plant shutdown or regulatory compliance issues. Executives are generally paid on a per diem basis by the search firms with which they contract, typically between $800 and $2,000 a day. Bonuses, based on mutually agreed-upon objectives, also are common. The temps are covered by a search firm’s professional practice insurance.

Whether retained by an entrepreneur, banker or private-equity firm, temporary executives and the search firms that contract with them say their arrival generally goes more smoothly than one might expect, both because the firms asked for help and because full-time employees know that interim doesn’t mean indefinite.

“The workforce is quicker to adapt to (the temp executive), as opposed to when the permanent hire takes place,” says Bob Kuhn, managing director of Reefpoint LLP, a New York-based interim executive firm. “He gets immediate respect and he’s known not to be politically involved.”

by Mary Ellen Podmolik
Satisfaction Magazine