There has been a substantial increase in top level contract roles in recent years, as organisations look to “parachute in” heavyweight experienced to drive change and innovation, according to Capita Professional Recruitment.

Capita’s experience echoes new research from the Interim Management Association (IMA), which highlighted a massive jump in demand for senior interim managers. IMA found that the use of interims has grown by 93% since the pre-recession levels of 2006, with 16,000 senior interims currently working in the UK.

In response to the IMA’s findings, Stephen Hoban, Director of Capita Professional Recruitment outlines the top five reasons why interim use is soaring:

• Access to specialist knowledge: Interims offer ambitious businesses access to specialist skills and experience that would be near-on impossible to secure on a permanent basis.
• Expertise without permanent headcount costs: Bringing on board interims allows organisations to invest in talent as and when they need it to manage efficiently projects or a temporary increase in workload.
• No alternative motives: Professional contractors have a keen eye for spotting internal politics. They are consequently able to rise “above the noise” to put in place processes that benefit organisational outcomes rather than personal agendas.
• They are ‘people people’: Independent contractors are, by their very nature, great communicators who find it easy to slot into an organisation, build rapport, and get the job done.
• Gain a new perspective: Interims can offer a fresh point of view, untainted by familiarity and convention. They can share best practice across the brands they work with, driving change, innovation, and productivity.

Mr Hoban commented: “We have seen interim demand go through the roof in recent years, so it is unsurprising that the IMA predicts that the sector is tipped to become a £2 billion pound market in 2015. While every successful business relies on a strong backbone of permanent professionals for stability and continuity of strategy and vision, organisations which fail to consider flexible staffing solutions when bringing on board senior talent are certainly missing a trick.”

“The use of contractors effectively allows businesses to ‘lease’ expertise that they would be hard pushed to secure on a permanent basis. Furthermore, if harnessed correctly, these skills should be retained within the business long after the interim has moved on,” he added.