One of the main problems in the Spanish labor market is the hiring of workers over the age of 45, a phenomenon known as ageism, since many professionals who lose their jobs after that age find it very difficult to find another job.
In fact, the average time they spend unemployed until they find another job is getting longer and longer, and the more time passes, the more difficult it is for them to find another job. They are also at a point in their professional career where they have already accumulated proven experience and can put it to good use, and their professional objectives are increasingly moving in the direction of bringing this experience to the market.
As a result, Interim Management is consolidating itself as a very interesting professional alternative for both the supply side, these professionals, and the demand side, the companies, as they are increasingly faced with temporary needs derived from the ever more rapid changes in the environment.
Servitalent was born 10 years ago providing Interim Management services, so one of its objectives has always been to position and disseminate this activity among companies in Spain, as it has been considered as a strategic lever to provide managerial expertise appropriate to the current needs of companies.
Likewise, during these years we have talked to many professionals to explain this concept and encourage them to develop their professional career in this activity, opening a window to a more flexible way of working and with which they can put in value all their accumulated expertise. We can affirm that the situation in these 10 years has changed a lot thanks to the work done by all of us in this Interim Management ecosystem and we have managed to develop a market that, although still small, has grown exponentially and will continue to do so in the coming years, due to the way the world is evolving, as well as the labor market and the needs of companies.
Taking into consideration the data from our study on Interim Management for the year 2022, the majority of Interim Managers are concentrated in the age range of 51 to 60 years (58%) and, if we add those in the range of 46 to 50 years, this would increase to 75%. It is noteworthy that this year the percentage of Interims in the 56 to 60 age range has increased to 29%, as it was 20% in the 2022 guide. Also noteworthy is the increase in the percentage of Interims in the 61 to 65 age range, which this year is 14%, compared to 9% last year. This means that the average age of Interim Managers is increasing due to 2 reasons.
The first is that it is increasingly seen as a professional alternative for managerial profiles that are outside the traditional labor market due to the aforementioned phenomenon of ageism.
And, secondly, the professionals who started in this activity in these years, continue in it to continue their development and because they are not very willing to return to a position of structure.
There is a saying that fits perfectly in this vision against ageism and in favor of generational diversity and it is that "skill is better than strength" and that skill, so necessary nowadays, is provided by the experience of this group of professionals.