You just had your fifth (but who’s counting?) coffee date with that friend who’s been on the dating apps for months, with results so bad they are seriously considering hiring a matchmaker. They are tired of mushing about in a muck of misleading profiles the algo keeps serving up because it doesn’t know any better.
This will eventually get better, right? But when?
The B2B version of this dilemma is when trying to hire fractional or interim talent. Many platforms promise thoughtful, aligned candidates to what you want (which may not actually be the same as what you’re ready for), but really aren’t we all just looking for a matchmaker’s “Here’s the top three people worth your time to look at given what you said matters”?
The Fractional Hiring Dilemma
In today’s market, the supply of independent talent has exploded. More professionals are going fractional, interim, or project-based. Which means, yes, you have more options, but also more noise.
Hiring platforms promise speed and lower fees. Big firms tout polish and are expensive. What about a middle ground where you get fast and personalized service that navigates the landscape in your context and delivers what you actually need: a short list of strong candidates who will drive results and thrive in your ecosystem?
At Forshay, we’re like a trusted matchmaker or curator, the one who has the relevant data on candidates and always calls you back. We hear it regularly from leaders trying to fill urgent gaps on the team or plug a skill gap fast: “We need someone yesterday, but we can’t afford a mis-hire.”
Our CEO, Sally Thornton, spoke with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church on a recent episode of HR Heretic. She shared some honest tea on fractional and interim hiring: when it works, when it backfires, and how to make it work for you.
Who Likes Choices?
There’s a big difference between hiring through a platform, working with a partner who really gets you, or going with the referral of your friend. It’s the “blind date vs. curated match vs. I get only one choice?”
- Hiring Platforms are (like) dating apps. You swipe through options, hope the algorithm got it right, and try to piece together context from a polished profile. You receive a flood of DMs daily. Yeah???
- Forshay is like getting set up by a savvy executive matchmaker, part strategist, part people whisperer. We know both the messy truth and the key values, and won’t waste your time with someone who “looks good on LinkedIn” but has never worked in your fill-in-the-blank growth stage.
- Your friends know people. That’s fantastic. The “here is one person I recommend” is unlikely to have the same context, and we know from the science that context matters in high performance.For example, someone who worked at Apple in the early years versus someone who worked there in recent years would have very different contexts.We’re biased, but we always like a few choices in our own lives. We’ll take your referrals and get them onto slates where they are aligned to hit the ground running and do some of their best work in the right context situations!
Our clients, like Dan Iazzetti from Oric Pharmaceuticals, shared, “During a critical time in our business cycle, Forshay provided a highly skilled, senior-level resource who quickly built relationships with our leadership team and maintained a high level of business support.”
Hiring The “10x” Productive Unicorn
There is plenty of debate on how much a leader can get from a high-performing team member. Fractional hiring is particularly fantastic when a hiring executive is looking for progress by someone who has the key skills, a strong performance track record, cultural alignment…and isn’t slowed by quiet (or loud) hopes of perfection.
We help you map out the scope before anything kicks off. That saves weeks of wasted time interviewing the right people for the wrong job.
We don’t just match on skills, we match on mindset, motivation, and that context thing we keep reminding you about. And here is another key insight that came up in the podcast: There’s what you want, and there’s what your company is ready for. Sometimes that’s the same thing.
A bit more often, it’s not.
Bridging that gap is where we come in.
- Do you need someone to clean up your data and build an operating plan? (Often we get the latter, but you might also need the former)
- Drive a fundraising round? Or support your CFO so they are successful?
- Patch a leadership gap while you determine what the right next leader profile is?
- Help a floundering team find its feet?
Remember the science of how high performance is not predicted by experience? In addition to how much context plays a role, knowing how people performed is what we focus on in leveraging interim executives who can hit the ground running with their experience during the initial period when experience is the most valuable.
Our shared goal is focusing on how to get the most productivity and impact for any hire (interim or direct hire).
When Fractional Hiring Fails: Red Flags to Watch
Fractional hiring can be magic, but of course it’s not fail-proof. We’ve made mistakes in our 14 years of experience. And our playbook reflects that depth. We’ve learned that when it doesn’t work, it’s usually not because the talent wasn’t smart or experienced.
It’s because the match was off. Or the expectations were fuzzy. Or both.
Here’s when things can go off the rails:
1. Hiring for the what & the how
Yes, your fractional CMO needs to know how to build a funnel. But do they know how to navigate your company’s unique decision-making style? Can they work across time zones, communicate with a slightly chaotic leader (or whatever messy situation is real for your key leaders), and thrive without a formal onboarding process?
The “how” your team works is key: Cultural alignment is an accelerator.
2. Add in skills that are key in “interim” role success
Unlike hiring for a full-time employee role, the interim or fractional hire who succeeds needs to have skills around scoping a project (what is realistic for what can be delivered in the timeline outlined?), the emotional skills to not get swept into relational dynamics of the client (aka politics), and managing many stakeholders without a title which means strongly developed influencing skills.
To be sure, we hope to hire full-time employees with these skills as well, but it’s essential when someone is coming into your organization for a short period of time.
If you’re a hiring executive, you have pretty high expectations of an interim/fractional consultant, right?
Employees can have sprints and recoveries, consultants only sprint (in their billable hours). They recover on their own time.
Helping Everyone Breathe Better
When fractional hiring clicks, it’s a thing of beauty. We’ve seen it firsthand: a client calls us in panic mode, and within two weeks, they’re breathing again.
So, when we look back…what made it work?
Sharp Scoping
Hiring for “a general strategic finance person” is like asking Hinge to find you someone “nice.” You’ll get 90 results, and none of them will move the needle.
Get everyone clear (and aligned!) on what needs to be done, how success will be measured, and how much ambiguity is part of the deal.
Consider reading that again.
It’s a quick sentence, but it represents a lot of work, doesn’t it? The consultant isn’t asked to be a magician, but you are looking for some magic, so what’s possible?
Curated match
Even if you do this on your own, look at a few people. Avoid the fast “my friend suggested this person”. Referrals are a fantastic way to hire, but interim is a different animal, and seeing a few ways a problem could be solved by seeing a quick slate will inform your team as to what’s the best route and can still be fast.
Whether your team is scrappy and sprinting, or global and scaling, you want to find someone who fits your tempo. Give yourself a few options – or let us do that for you.
Mutual trust and transparency
The best fractional relationships are built like partnerships. Neither party expects perfection…just quality progress, clear communication, and good feels about the work achieved together.
When we’re part of the relationship (will avoid the spicy dating analogy of this one!), all sides see the value of one another in collaborating and hitting the right outcomes. For us, transparency is a key part and underscores the respect we have for both the client and the consultants.
Let’s gooooooooo!
Fractional hiring is here to stay. The versatility, quick progress on key goals, and avoidance of overhead costs wins.
At Forshay, we sit in that boutique talent consulting sweet spot between big and staid (and expensive), and platform volume (you pay for it indirectly in many ways).
For our DIY friends, we see you, and just offer up that co-creating what a better possible path could be has been a key outcome we’ve experienced from many-a-strong-networked leader who “knows someone”.
Let us offer you personalized service, authentic relationships, and strategic clarity without the overhead. If you feel a little unhinged, post up in our DMs, or just give us a call, and let’s set up a coffee date. We absolutely thrive on finding the tailored fit that goes deeper than the JD for both clients and candidates.
Bonus List – Final Takeaways
What Makes a Great HR Consultant in a Fractional Hire Search?
- Trust Builder
Establishes credibility quickly, especially in high-stakes, high-pressure environments. - Problem Diagnoser
Excels at asking empathetic FAQs – Frequently Avoided Questions. - Consulting Mindset
Think clear-eyed strategist, not checkbox-filler. - Emotional Radar
Reads the room with enough emotional intelligence to spot a culture shift before it hits a deck. As one of our clients once said, “Every team has its peculiarities.” (We nodded. Hard.) - Trusted Partner, Not Just a Vendor
Navigates ambiguity, earns buy-in across teams, and stays focused on outcomes, not just deliverables.
