Nearly a third of enquiries were from the public sector, where local government interims were the most requested.

The most common private sector enquiries were from banking and finance, accounting for nearly a quarter of its demand.

These findings were from an Ipsos MORI report commissioned by the Interim Management Association (IMA) for Q3 2008.

IMA chairman, Paul Botting, says these are encouraging signs.

“A continued rise in enquiries is anticipated as we begin 2009. We’re certainly seeing a need for both private and public organisations to think smarter, which bolsters the need for highly specialised interim work.”

Doug Baird, managing director of Interim Partners, told Recruiter the requirement for interims are different now compared to a few years ago.

“Whereas before, the demand was for interim specialists in relation to a company’s growth, now we’re seeing a need for interim managers in relation to cost-reduction projects.

“We’re occasionally being asked for HR professionals who have experience with redundancies.”

Special projects continue to be the most requested job function, with HR second, closely followed by finance. Programme and project management is cited as the most popular reason for hiring an interim executive.