First decide: interim, fractional or permanent
Interim means a senior hire who works full time, usually for a fixed period, to cover a gap: a CFO who has left, a COO on leave, a transformation that needs one person's whole week. Fractional means the same calibre of executive for part of the week, one to three days, for as long as it is useful. Permanent means you need someone in the seat for years, and the right route is a search.
The common mistake is buying interim because the gap feels urgent, when the work only needs two days a week. The other mistake is buying fractional when the board actually wants a permanent CFO in the seat by year end. Answer three questions first. How many days a week does the work really need? For how long? And does the board want a permanent name at the end of it?
Interim, fractional and retained search compared
| Interim | Fractional | Retained search | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days a week | Usually five | One to three | Full time, permanent |
| Typical length | A fixed gap, often months | As long as it is useful | Years |
| Best for | Cover, turnaround, a full-time project | Ongoing senior work a small company cannot fill full time | A seat the board wants filled for good |
| How getoperators does it | Named executives on the bench, many available for interim | Named executives on the bench, most showing their own day rate | Operator Search: a researched shortlist in five business days |
Robert Half and getoperators, side by side
| Robert Half | getoperators | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Staffing firm with interim management placements | Executive search practice with a public bench of fractional executives |
| Consulting arm | Protiviti, a wholly owned subsidiary | No consulting arm, executives only |
| Interim pricing published | None found on its site, November 2026 | Most profiles show the executive's own day rate |
| Seeing people before a call | Not stated on its site | Named profiles open to browse without an account |
| Permanent hires | Yes, as a staffing firm | Retained search across eleven senior seats |
What an interim or fractional CFO, COO or general counsel costs
UK bands, from this site's published day-rate data: a CFO runs £800 to £1,500 a day, a COO £700 to £1,300 a day and a general counsel £800 to £1,400 a day. Interim at five days a week puts a CFO at about £15,300 to £28,800 a month. The same CFO two days a week as a fractional hire is about £6,100 to £11,500 a month, and a COO at two days about £5,400 to £10,000 a month.
In the US the bands are $1,000 to $2,200 a day for a CFO, $900 to $1,800 a day for a COO and $1,100 to $2,100 a day for a general counsel. Two days a week of a US CFO comes to about $7,700 to $16,900 a month. Whichever supplier you use, compare the full monthly cost of interim at five days against fractional at two, because that gap is usually the whole decision.
Who Robert Half suits better
Robert Half suits companies that want one very widely known supplier to handle many hires at once, including roles well below the executive level, and companies whose procurement team prefers a long-established staffing vendor. If the project also needs a consulting team rather than one executive, its wholly owned consulting subsidiary Protiviti is a route a single-executive bench cannot offer.
getoperators suits a company that wants to see the named executive, their rate and their availability before the first call. As of November 2026 we found no published interim executive pricing on Robert Half's site. On getoperators most profiles carry the executive's own day rate, every executive is checked by hand against LinkedIn and CV, and every one has held the seat. You contact them directly, meet within days and can have them in the seat within one to three weeks. The rate an executive publishes is the rate they receive; the company pays getoperators a fee of its own, set out in the Terms of Business.
Common questions
What is the difference between a Robert Half interim CFO and a fractional CFO?
An interim CFO, whether through Robert Half or anyone else, usually works full time for a fixed period to cover a gap. A fractional CFO works one to three days a week for as long as it is useful. If the work only needs two days, fractional costs well under half as much.
Does Robert Half publish interim executive rates?
We found no published interim executive pricing on Robert Half's site in November 2026, so the price comes from a conversation. On getoperators most profiles show the executive's own day rate, and the UK bands for all eleven seats are published as open data on the day-rates page.
Should I use Robert Half or a retained search for a permanent CFO?
For a permanent CFO, a retained search gives you a researched shortlist built for your seat. Robert Half is a staffing firm with very wide reach. getoperators runs retained search as Operator Search, with a researched shortlist in five business days, and can cover the gap with a fractional CFO while the search runs.
More of them, on hiring, contracts and what a fractional engagement costs, on the fractional executive FAQ.