The freelance or interim market is booming. Interims earn good money, but it's the variety - and the opportunity to take more time off work - that attracts people most

Last month I cautioned against handing in your notice in January just for the sake of change. If you are serious about doing something about your work-life balance though, now might actually be a good time to think about a new career direction.

Although the dire warnings about a slowdown in retail sales, the credit crunch and the threat of recession in the US may be bad news for many businesses, there's one branch of employment that usually does well in a recession: interims.

The interim executive market really took off in the last economic slowdown at the start of the "noughties". Faced with having to tighten their belts, smart companies woke up to the fact that they didn't have to pay a small fortune to management consultancies every time they had a change programme to see through or new skills to acquire. Nor did they have to take on permanent staff to meet a short-term need. Instead, freelance managers or 'interims' (a concept that originated in the US) could do the job just as well in a placement lasting typically between three and nine months.

The idea was a huge success and the Interim Management Association, which represents interim providers, estimates that the market is now worth a cool £1bn in the UK alone. The continuing demand from employers for good quality interims is only to be expected. What's more surprising, perhaps, is that the supply of interims didn't dry up when the jobs market returned to 'normal' a few years ago.

That's partly because the rewards are good. According to interim recruitment company Praxis Executive, half the interim managers they spoke to expected to earn more than £100,000 last year and more than a quarter expected to earn more than £125,000. The packages need to be good, of course, because as a contractor rather than a full-time employee you need to pay for your own holidays and pensions, and there's no sick pay. According to consultancy Interim Performers, you need to factor in an extra 30 per cent on top of the base pay to cover these additional outgoings.

But it's not the salary alone that attracts many people to an interim career - and keeps them there, despite offers of permanent jobs - it's the variety, the chance to work with different people and organisations, and to learn new, transferable skills along the way. And it's the work-life balance.

One long-term interim I know, who has held senior executive roles in major food retailers as well as in manufacturing and the City, typically works for six months in each assignment and then travels for the next few months. She's lucky to command a top-end salary and be able to cherry-pick her assignments - but she is the living embodiment of why more people are choosing the interim lifestyle. n

Steve Crabb is editor of People Management