HR interim managers are enjoying boosted earnings as demand for their services peaks.

According to a new survey, HR and finance interim managers are seeing the most demand for their services in a market that is seeing demand outstrip supply.

Interims are also being paid record daily rates, which have reached an average of £585, up 5.4 per cent from 2006.

Manufacturing and engineering (13 per cent of all interims) and central and local government (13 per cent), which includes charities, top the sectors demanding the services of interim managers.

Fuelling the record pay deals is not only supply issues but sourcing top talent. According to the survey authors, interim management provider Russam GMS, over half of organisations are turning to recruitment providers; amongst central government this figures increases to 79 per cent.

Age also plays a factor – interims in their 40s get most work, in a mark that experience counts. An opportunity to make money is quickly turning interim management into an attractive career option. Thirty three per cent of interim managers said they would never go back to a permanent job, up 4 per cent from 2006.

Charles Russam, chairman of Russam GMS said: “For the first time ever, we are seeing demand for interim managers putting serious pressure on supply, which no doubt accounts for the daily rate increases. However, this is tempered by strong client pressures to keep rates down, coming from procurement professionals – themselves now in greater demand. This situation is placing a great deal of pressure on interim providers to find the more talented interims – and the precise fit – to fulfil this growing requirement.”

Russam surveyed its database of 8,000 interim executives in June 2007.