The hiring market is starting to move again. Permanent recruitment is showing signs of recovery, which is encouraging after such a long period of caution. At the same time, demand for interim, fractional and project-based support remains strong.
Employers are hiring, but they’re also thinking more carefully about what they actually need. A permanent appointment will make sense in some cases. In others, particularly where there’s a pressing problem to solve, a transformation to deliver or specialist expertise needed for a defined period, a more flexible option may make better sense.
The latest KPMG and REC UK data gives us some indication of that shift. Temporary placements remained in growth territory in July, while temporary vacancies increased for the first time in two years.
We’re also seeing more discussion around fractional leadership at senior level. The Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey includes its first look at fractional interim management, and executive search firms are talking more openly about fractional C-suite appointments as part of the wider leadership market.
We need to be careful about overstating this: temporary staffing covers a huge range of roles, so the wider data doesn’t automatically mean there’s a surge in senior interim appointments. What it does suggest is that employers are becoming more comfortable with different ways of bringing experienced people into an organisation.
That might mean an interim executive, a transformation director, a fractional leader, a consultant or a programme specialist. Increasingly, organisations seem prepared to consider the shape of the role after they’ve worked out what needs to be done.
The questions may sound something like this:
- What problem do we actually need to solve?
- How quickly do we need someone?
- Will we need this expertise in two or three years’ time?
- Could an experienced interim leader get us there faster?
- Would it make sense to test the requirement before committing to a permanent hire?
Employers want to know what you can come in and do, how quickly you can get to grips with the situation and whether you’ve dealt with something similar before.
Being available for interim work isn’t enough
One of the most common things we see is an executive adding ‘open to permanent and interim opportunities’ to LinkedIn and assuming that will open up another part of the market. It may widen the search, but it doesn’t explain why someone should hire you as an interim.
An employer bringing in an interim leader will usually have a reason for needing someone now. There may be a problem to fix, a programme that has gone off track, a leadership gap, a transaction underway or simply a piece of work that can’t wait for a lengthy permanent recruitment process. They want someone who can arrive, understand the situation quickly, build trust and start making progress.
So your CV needs to make a few things very easy to understand:
- where you are most useful
- the problems you’re good at solving
- the scale and complexity you can handle
- what you’ve delivered in similar situations
- how quickly you can build credibility and momentum
- whether you can operate independently without a great deal of infrastructure around you
A description such as ‘experienced transformation leader’ leaves too much unanswered. What kind of transformation? In what sort of organisation? What was happening when you arrived? What did you change? What was different afterwards? The strongest interim candidates tend to have a recognisable story.
They might be the person who gets a troubled programme back on track. They may have led several post-acquisition integrations, strengthened governance before a sale, rebuilt confidence in a leadership team or stepped into difficult situations where something had to change quickly. That gives employers something concrete to remember.
Permanent hiring may be improving, but competition hasn’t disappeared
More permanent hiring is good news, but senior candidates still have plenty of competition. That makes clarity even more important. Employers need to see where you’ve operated, what you were brought in to deal with, the judgement you exercised and what changed as a result.
There should also be a clear thread running through your career. It’s worth asking yourself what people repeatedly come to you for. Which situations tend to suit you? Where does your experience carry particular weight? What would a former colleague immediately trust you to handle? Your CV should make that clear fairly quickly. LinkedIn, networking conversations and the way you talk about yourself should then support the same story.
Relationships still matter enormously
When permanent vacancies start to increase, there’s an understandable temptation to spend more time looking at advertised roles. Keep doing that, but don’t let it become the whole search.
A lot of senior hiring begins well before a vacancy appears online. Someone resigns unexpectedly. An investor becomes worried about performance. A transformation starts slipping. A business needs a capability it doesn’t currently have. A search consultant starts talking to the market before a formal mandate has even been signed. Interim work is particularly likely to emerge through those conversations.
The people who hear about these opportunities early are often those who have kept their relationships warm. That doesn’t mean sending hundreds of messages asking people to ‘keep you in mind’. At senior level, good networking is usually much more natural than that.
Reconnect with people who know your work. Tell them what you’re interested in doing next. Share what you’re seeing in your part of the market. Have useful conversations. Stay visible. Your reputation can get you into a conversation long before your CV does.
Think about it this way. If someone hears that a business needs an interim transformation leader, a board adviser or a senior permanent hire, what would make them think of you?
Your title will only be part of the answer. Your track record, your relationships and what people associate you with will matter just as much.
Keep both routes open
There’s no reason senior candidates have to make a once-and-for-all choice between permanent and interim work. An interim role can generate income while you continue considering your longer-term options. It can expose you to a new sector, introduce you to organisations you might never otherwise have worked with and sometimes open the door to consultancy, fractional leadership or a broader portfolio career. But you do need to position yourself differently:
- A permanent employer may be thinking about how you will lead the organisation over several years. They’ll want to understand your leadership style, cultural fit, ability to build teams and the longer-term contribution you could make.
- Someone appointing an interim is likely to be thinking much more immediately. Can you handle this situation? Have you done it before? How quickly can you get going? Will you be effective without months of bedding in?
You can have the same career history and appeal to both markets. For candidates, that means having more than one version of your executive CV and adjusting the emphasis depending on the opportunity and audience.
Whichever route you’re pursuing, make it easy for people to understand where you add value, the situations in which you’re at your best and why your experience matters to them now. Hanover Talent Solutions works with senior leaders pursuing permanent, interim, fractional and board opportunities. We help executives sharpen their positioning, strengthen their CV and LinkedIn profile and focus their search on the roles, organisations and relationships most likely to lead somewhere.
If you’d like support with your positioning or simply want to talk through how the market is changing and what that might mean for your search, please get in touch.