“Do you like your job mummy?”

As many of you who have spoken to me over the years will know, I’m the proud mother of two fantastic boys, Otis (9) and Franklin (6). Franklin is at that wonderful age where his eyes are wide open to the world around him, he’s curious and inquisitive. Recent lines of questioning include;
• Where does the sky stop? Does anyone have Brian Cox’s mobile number to help me explain that one.
• What was the first food to be grown?
• Who was the first person to die? Closely followed by…
• Does David Bowie really live on the moon? I must explain, after introducing my kids his music from an early age, I also told them when Bowie passed, he started living on the moon. I never expected to be cross examined in such length about this tale.
• Who is the leader of the world?
Thank goodness for Google and some creative thinking from me!!!

A conversation we had last month, saw him turn his line of questioning towards me and to be honest it’s been quite thought provoking. To provide some context, up until recently, my husband worked for a global confectionary company, you’ll know it as ‘the one that kids and grown-ups love’. So, as you can imagine, Daddy in our boys’ eyes had the coolest, most fun job – a modern-day Willy Wonka!! But late last year, he moved companies and now works for an independent craft brewery. I know what you’re thinking, I’m a lucky lady right!!! But to a child, beer doesn’t hold the same level of interest as sweets, so Franklin’s attention diverted to my job. His first question was,
• What is your job Mummy? I told him I help other people find jobs.
His next line of enquiry,
• What kind of jobs? Jobs in hospitals was my response.
The conversation continued as I explained in simple terms the types of people I support and jobs I help them find. The two questions he poised towards the end of this conversation took me off guard.
• Are you good at your job?
• Do you like your job?
I started to make lots of uncomfortable mumbling noises, an immediate and reassuring response he did not get. The spotlight was on me, and I didn’t have an answer to his questions, nor could I Google one. It felt like questions of this magnitude required some thinking time and an honest response. So, I told him I would come back to him once I had thought them over.

In terms of my own career, I’ve worked in interim/contract recruitment for almost 20 years. 11 of those years were spent recruiting across commerce and industry, 8 working at Melber Flinn, specialising in healthcare. During this time, I’ve enjoyed developing my knowledge and understanding of how our amazing NHS is ran and am full of admiration and gratitude for all that work in the system. The candidates Melber Flinn partner with are talented and inspiring individuals, focused on driving best practice for patients. It’s a joy to speak to them and support in their searches for interim opportunities. I also consider myself fortunate to work with Steve and Rachel, who are not only experts in their markets but have good moral compasses (something many recruiters don’t always have). We work exceptionally well together as a team and are motivated by delivering an honest and reliable service to our candidates and clients. Given this, you’re probably asking why I found Franklin’s questions difficult to answer.

We all know, the world of interim management in healthcare has changed significantly over the past couple of years. The introduction of stricter financial controls post covid, has affected the market in significant ways. Our clients are still facing rising patient numbers, trying to battle the huge backlogs on waiting lists and are under immense pressure to reduce costs. But in trying to balance the books, many have become victim of restructures, large redundancy programmes and a cull of interim workforce, particularly non-clinical managers. Despite there still being gaps in structures and change programmes to be delivered, attempting to get funding for specialist support has proven/continues to be difficult for many of our clients. Delivering long lasting change with a reduced workforce is a challenging brief to say the least.

As Steve has reflected in previous posts, we’ve experienced a steady decline in the number of interim roles coming to market for two years now. For many interim managers, 2024 undoubtedly must have been one of the most challenging years in their careers due to the lack of opportunities available. Historically the conversations I’ve had with our interim network have either been to explore their interest in a role or to get an update on their own situations, most of whom were either happily occupied with work or taking some time out (their choice). Except for the odd conversation about difficult working environments or exhausting commutes, the calls I had were positive. Last year was different, the content and tone of the discussions changed. It was evident that a large percentage of our interim community were struggling to find work and perhaps for the first time in some instances, having time out between assignments that was unwanted. These gaps spanned months not weeks. Candidates were becoming increasingly concerned about the impact not working had on their finances, confidence, mental health, and future employability. They were exhausting their networking trying to identify new opportunities. They sounded frustrated, worried and in some cases lonely. We’ve known many of these individuals for years now, the calls were at times emotional and hard to listen to, I guess we felt a bit helpless at times. Many interims have had to change their search criteria to secure roles, instead applying for lower banded posts, FTC over day rates or working far away from home. Others have left the interim market for permanent work as they were finding it too unpredictable. I can imagine these must have been tough decisions to make for our interim community. I can recall one candidate crying on the phone when I called to offer them a role, such was the relieve that after 5 months of searching, they had finally secured a job.

So, when Franklin asked me whether I was good at my job and whether I liked it, I guess I was reflecting on the past 12 months, which have been very challenging for many of our interim community and clients. It’s been a bit of a pivotal year for us all at Melber Flinn too; and I really hope that myself and the team have been able to provide support to those of you that have been struggling with a declining market. We’re always available to listen to you moan, shout or cry if you need us, and hopefully provide some useful advice at the same time. The good news is as Steve mentioned in his last blog; we ended 2024 on a high, as we secured more jobs for our awesome network in Q4, than is any other period that year. And so far, 2025 has started off well too. So, whilst we’re still cautiously optimistic about this year, we hope demand continues to gather pace and we’ll be finding work for many more of you.

And despite Franklin never chasing me again, my answers to both his questions are a resounding yes!! I remain committed to helping our network through the good times and the bad and feel honoured to be able to do so.