A quiet market is a great opportunity to find work as an interim executive. There is a particular kind of silence that falls over the City when deals slow down. Bars empty. Restaurants that once needed reservations now have tables free at 1 pm on a Tuesday. A friend put it bluntly this week: “No one’s in, it’s like the Continent!” For interim executives — the professionals hired precisely because something has gone wrong, needs to change or is about to — that silence can feel personal. No crisis, no call. No call, no cash flow.
But quiet markets are not dead markets. They are markets catching their breath. And breathing room, it turns out, is something interim executives are chronically short of. An Institute of Directors survey on health and wellbeing found that poor work-life balance and long hours rank among the top three challenges directors face. So there is a certain justice in treating a slow patch not as a drought to be endured, but as a rare and useful pause — one that can be spent sharpening the tools that make the next assignment easier to land.
Here is how to use it.
Do your homework before anyone asks for it.
You can’t sell a solution to a problem you haven’t identified. Identify your target companies. Research what keeps their boards up at night — the plans, the programmes, the people, the problems. Arrive at conversations already fluent in someone else’s business, and you seem less like a job-seeker and more like the answer.
Rehearse like it matters, because it does.
Practice with people who challenge you, not just nod along. Make yourself uncomfortable on purpose. Be ready to answer, without hesitation: what do you actually do well, what kind of assignment calls for you specifically, how do you operate, and what have you achieved? If you can’t answer crisply, no one else will answer it for you.
Write a CV that works while you’re not.
Your CV is not a memoir; it’s a marketing document, and most fail because they require the reader to do too much work. Organise it chronologically, keep it clear, and use bullet points instead of paragraphs. Above all, know your areas of expertise well enough to describe them in a sentence — if you’re vague about what you do, clients will assume you’re vague about doing it.
Build “Brand You” — and mean it.
Every interim executive, whether they like it or not, runs a one-person professional services firm. Know what motivates you (you will be asked, repeatedly, and “the money” is not a strategy), communicate a message people remember, and show up consistently across your CV, LinkedIn, and website so all tell the same story.
Network like you mean to keep the friends.
If the word “networking” makes you wince, rename it: you’re just meeting interesting people and finding ways to help them. Make a wish list — the senior contact you admire, the thought leader in your field — and reach out. Aim slightly higher than feels comfortable. People say yes to interesting conversations more often than you’d expect.
Collect your proof while it’s fresh.
Ask for a reference the moment an assignment ends, while the value you added is still vivid in someone’s mind. Send a short, honest email rather than a polished script. Even better, write it up as a case study — few interims bother, which is exactly why it’s worth doing. Documenting your work signals confidence like nothing else.
The bottom line.
Slow periods end. Preparation, not luck, determines whether you’re ready for the upturn. Time you spend now — refining your pitch, expanding your network, tightening your story — compounds quietly, just like good investments. Remember, an interim executive’s key benefit is their experience. Use this experience to find and win business. When autumn arrives and the market wakes up again, you’ll be glad you used the quiet to get ready instead of simply waiting for the phone to ring.
Nick Diprose has been introducing interim executives to businesses for 20 years. His firm Holdsway, the fourth interim firm he has either led, built or founded, has been a UK Top10 firm for over a decade. Nick also advises executives on their interim careers.
