Excellent article in the Harvard Business Review on The Rise of the SuperTemp. According to the article:
"Supertemps are top managers and professionals—from lawyers to CFOs to consultants—who’ve been trained at top schools and companies and choose to pursue project-based careers independent of any major firm."
The article goes to say:
Most supertemps are refugees from big corporations and law and consulting firms who value the autonomy and flexibility of temporary or project-based work and find that the compensation is comparable to what they earned in full-time jobs—sometimes even better.
CNBC's The Rise of the SuperTemp in the C Suite is another version of the HBR article focused on the increasing use of executive temps.
The demand for executive temps is growing and companies are responding. For example, the large head hunting firm Heidrick and Struggles has created The Chief Advisor Network, a service to provide clients:
"proven leaders from a select group of vetted executives who prefer a 'portfolio life' over permanent full-time positions or retirement but are still eager to have an impact using their previous accomplishments."
Few independent workers are SuperTemps. Based on the results of the MBO State of Independence Study, we think about 200,000 U.S. independent workers could be considered SuperTemps. This is a little over 1% of all independent workers.
I think I like the term "portfolio executive" over "SuperTemp".
When I first started Emergent Research I spent most of my time as an executive temp. I temped as CEO or CMO for about a dozen early to mid-stage tech companies. The work was exciting, challenging, rewarding and very intense.
But when I told people I was a temp they weren't impressed. I think if I told them I was a SuperTemp they'd have been even less impressed. But portfolio executive - that's impressive.
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