Companies are increasingly hiring experienced executives as interim managers or “super temps” instead of consultants, according to the latest survey by executive search firm Watermark Search International, reports afr.com.

The survey found that so-called “super temps” can command more than AUD 1,000 (USD 938) a day, and +29% have held chief executive positions, up from +16% in 2012. Coined “super temps” by the Harvard Business Review in 2012, interim executives have been common in job markets across the United States and Europe over the last decade.

Of the 300 respondents surveyed by Watermark, 63% were engaged in interim management work and most said it was a career choice they preferred to permanent employment.

Interim executives; including Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, lawyers, strategists, and HR executives, tend to be in the role for on average between one to five months.

They are either hired for specific purpose, such as a restructure, to provide the company with specific skills, or to fill a gap following an executive resignation before the company rehires.

Danny Hodgson, a partner at Watermark Search International, said that Australia’s recruitment market for C-suite executives was now more like Europe and America. There is a growing pool of talent who prefer to work on specific projects or for specific periods as opposed to permanent placement.

Mr Hodgson said the firm’s interim executive market had been growing and was now part of what he considered to be an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Australia: “We are now getting about 150 to 200 requests for this type of job from businesses a year. Our biggest competitor is people’s networks and word of mouth. But many listed companies are now looking to search firms. It’s very much a hidden part of the executive jobs market.”