Look for the posts nobody has filled
If I remember right, he's a CFO. When he's looking for projects, he goes on LinkedIn and searches for job posts that fit him and that are aging: roles that have been posted for a long time and still haven't been filled.
That was the twist that caught my attention. A post that has been sitting open tells you the company has a real need and that the normal hiring process isn't solving it.
Interim, not instead
He reaches out and says, in effect, I see you've been trying to fill this for a while, and I know that's been a challenge. He doesn't tell them to hire a fractional instead. He says, let's keep looking for that person, but in the meantime, hire me as an interim.
That makes it a much less jarring decision for the hiring company. They don't have to give up on the hire. They just get help now.
He told me what usually happens is that they really love him. After working about four months, they usually offer him the full time position, which he ends up turning down.
Companies are already buying interim leadership
This isn't a fringe approach. Business Talent Group reported in its 2024 independent talent report that the need for interim leaders rose 23 percent year over year and 170 percent since 2022. Requests for interim CFOs alone rose 46 percent year over year.
So the company with a stale job post is often already open to the idea. It just needs someone to make the offer in a way that doesn't ask it to change plans.
My one tweak
As soon as he lands the interim role, I think he should start talking with the decision makers about working at a more strategic level, offloading the execution work in the job, and positioning it so he can stay on as a fractional on an ongoing basis.
Often that's the better arrangement for the client anyway, so it isn't a selfish move. If you want help starting more of these conversations, book a networking chat.