Had no time to wait for the recruitment process

When Wenaas Workwear AS needed a new senior controller, CFO Christian Otterbech couldn’t wait for a months-long recruitment process. He found the candidate he needed in a couple of weeks, via InterimLeder.

Wenaas Workwear, formerly known as Kwintet Norge AS, is Norway’s market leader in workwear and uniforms. Wenaas Workwear is part of the Fristads Kansas Group, which has a turnover of EUR 450 million.

Controller left halfway through the reorganisation process

“2015 was a year of reorganisation for us. We closed down shops, downsized by 60 people and divided the company in two. When one of our controllers left, we had to quickly find an experienced resource person who was familiar with such processes. I had no time to lose, so I contacted InterimLeder,” says Otterbech.

The process

“With InterimLeder, the process was fast and successful. They have a very good database and they do the initial screening themselves. I was quickly presented with a number of candidates, and within a couple of weeks I had spoken to three of them, together with Tor Hansen of InterimLeder. All three were very experienced, serious candidates. I clearly chose the right person, because things have gone very well,” Otterbech explains.

The results

“The interim manager has been in place for four months and has absolutely met our expectations so far. I was looking for a motivated doer, who could get things done without needing anyone around him or her. Now I have a very good resource, just the person I needed.”

The advantages of interim management

“My problem was that I needed immediate resources to run these processes towards the end of last year. That is the advantage of interim management, it all goes quickly and you get a person who can get to work from day one and who knows what they are doing. So I simply had no time to wait for recruitment.”

Believes interim management will be more and more relevant

Otterbech believes that people will make more and more use of interim management in future, which he explains as follows:

“Short-term needs are cropping up all the time, and increasing permanent staff is not always the right thing to do. By hiring in an interim manager, you get a very experienced resource and run less of a risk than with permanent employment, because the notice period is only one week. If you choose the wrong candidate, you can change to a new one. It’s flexible, and that’s an advantage, especially these days with a downturn in the economy and downsizing all the time. It may be that some companies are unaware of this possibility, but I believe it is something that all companies will need at some time or in some situation,” concludes Otterbech.

Wenaas is a traditional Norwegian company, with its roots with the Wenaas family in Måndalen, Møre og Romsdal, where the whole logistics operation is still based. The company is Norway’s leading supplier of workwear, with a turnover of NOK 812 million in 2014.