(Fortune Magazine) -- If you're like most senior company loyalists, the word "temp" probably brings to mind certain corporate characters. The receptionist who's always updating his Facebook page. The coder who spends more time on job search algorithms than on optimizing your site. The contract manager who never gets that her suit looks odd in your laid-back culture.

But in today's brutal job market, temporary is no longer the sole domain of secretaries and IT guys; it's both a thriving sub-industry for executives and a legitimate way to expand your skills. Jon Osborne, VP of research at Staffing Industry Analysts, estimates that the market for contingent management jobs will grow 90% over the next decade, to $26.6 billion; Littler Mendelson, the giant employment-law...