Are you a Type-A executive who enjoys being an outsider and doesn't need the approval of others? If so, you may be perfectly suited to executive temping.

Officials at staffing firms and temps themselves say a variety of qualities and skills are needed to succeed in these often high-level part-time positions. "We're looking for a needle in a haystack," admits Shel Hart, vice president of Spherion Corp.'s Professional Recruiting Group in Boca Raton, Fla.

Spherion seeks individuals who have previously been chief executive or chief financial officers and have quantifiable records of past successes, Mr. Hart says. These are "people who not only possess education and training but have been students of the game. Our people have been in the real world," he says. "We're selling individuals who have a pragmatic approach to solving problems and aren't restricted by one methodology."

Jess Atwell, an executive temporary from Midland, Mich., describes the perfect candidate as "a Type-A character who can sell himself and the solutions he's advocating to others." If you don't like to sell yourself, don't apply, he adds. "Someone who likes a structured situation, or needs approval from others, probably wouldn't like this."

While freedom from politics was one of Mr. Atwell's motivations for choosing his new career path, temping has a downside. "You're always an outsider," he says. "The advantage is that no one knows who you are and how you do things, so you have freedom to maneuver. The disadvantage is that there may be cliquishness that's hard to overcome."

Leaving when a job ends can be difficult. "It's easy to get attached to what you're doing, and you can have withdrawal pains at the end when you give up the reins," says temp John Alich of Carmel, Calif.

Not every situation requires a Type-A mindset, though. Geri Stunz Konstantin of Boca Raton, Fla., worked as a creative professional and manager for large advertising agencies for many years and eventually started her own. "Then I decided I wanted to come to Florida and downscale a bit," she says. She signed on with the Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International. "I run my own business now, but I don't have to deal with employees," she reports. "Creative Group has the contacts and the jobs, and by working with them you know you get paid. I don't have to spend time finding work, which usually takes a third of your time."

Ms. Konstantin's assignments have included writing, art directing, and marketing. "I work out of my house," she says. "I'm fully set up with computers and I'm a geeky type. I have to go to meetings, but I work when I want to. I can play golf or go to the beach and then do the work at night."

But you don't reach that position right away. "You have to be good at what you do," she says. "It's not like you can walk in off the street." She explains that staffing firms may be slow to assign work to a newcomer, but "as you work with them more, you get more work."

Vern Illingworth, a Louisville, Ky., financial executive, stresses the value of having multiple skills in reducing downtime. "This isn't for the faint of heart," he says. Individuals who have only a limited number of skills or lack wide-ranging experience in different settings aren't likely to get many assignments as temps.

Executive temps need self-confidence and interpersonal skills, agrees Roberta Maneker, a corporate-communications exec in New York City. At best, she adds, they should be "unafraid of creating necessary antagonisms and controversies, able to fire if needed, and ready to go home gracefully when it's all over."