As Director of Sales and Marketing Training in pharmaceutical company Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Kari Salvesen Mørk had a busy schedule with much of her time spent travelling. When the company decided to move her post to Zurich, Kari decided to step down. An exciting opportunity as interim manager in the same sector became the springboard for a permanent position as sales and marketing manager at Unilabs.
Waiting for a full-time job could, she knew, take time so Mørk began to think differently. When a colleague suggested that interim management might be a good way to get into a company, the advice resonated with her immediately:
“It sounded to me like a good plan B. I thought it was better to have a job for three to six months than to be idle, so I went straight to Google. InterimLeder AS was the first name to come up. It cost me nothing to apply, of course, so I signed up to their database,” says Mørk.
“I was unemployed for no more than three days when I got an e-mail from InterimLeder saying they wanted to talk to me about an exciting opportunity at Unilabs. From that point, everything went really quickly! The interview took place on a Friday, the offer arrived on Wednesday, and I started the job the following Monday.”
The post that Mørk was hired to fill was newly created. Unilabs is famous for its radiology institute but not as well known for its laboratory services. This initiative was now to be given a boost. As interim sales and marketing manager, Mørk's task was to build up a sales department to sell laboratory services to GP practices throughout Norway.
“This was my first experience as an interim manager, and I felt it was important to get into my stride quickly. You don't get much of a running-in or training period and the expectation is that you should be able to handle things pretty quickly. I was given a one-day induction where staff went through the most important things with me, after which I made myself known to the sales personnel.”
While Mørk was being hired to fill the newly-created post as sales and marketing manager, Unilabs launched a recruitment process to hire a permanent member of staff for the position. She applied for the post immediately, and was given the job.
“After three months, Unilabs decided to buy me out of the agreement. By then I'd built up the sales organisation and strengthened it with three new sales personnel. The advantage of going from interim manager to permanent employee is that both you and your employer know where you're going, a luxury you never have when taking on a job in the traditional way,” reflects Mørk.