(FORTUNE Magazine) – As a temp you won't get the corner office. Or employee stock options. But who cares? Professionals choose the temp life for different rewards. They want to try a second career or indulge their wanderlust or spend more time at home. "Essentially we're seeing a new work paradigm," says Ray Marcy, CEO of Interim Services in Fort Lauderdale, which gets about 47% of its revenues from placing professionals (up from 4% six years ago). Thanks to a vigorous economy and enthusiasm for "just-in-time staffing," demand is up for skilled accountants, lawyers, and techies who can jump in and handle seasonal work or a special project. And then get on with their lives.

The Mother

After her son was born, Elizabeth Cox wanted to cut back her hours, but as one of just two lawyers at Quaker Fabric in Fall River, Mass., that didn't seem likely. So she went temp. Now, on Mondays and Wednesdays, Cox, 33, dons a suit and pores over contracts for Harcourt General, a publishing company in Newton, Mass. The rest of the week she's home with Sam, 18 months. "I'm not naive. I know this is a setback in my career, but I didn't want to explain a big gap" when looking for a full-time job, says Cox. Added benefit: She's making new contacts.

The Athlete

From June to August of this year, Michael Lake, 26, went to work every day as an account project manager at the sports memorabilia firm Collectors Universe in Santa Ana, Calif. Then he quit, packed up, and headed to Europe, where he is a point guard for a basketball team just outside Munich. After about seven months of playing hoops, Lake plans to return to the U.S. and drop by the offices of Re:sources Connection, a staffing agency in Santa Ana for his next temp accounting assignment. "Where else am I going to find a professional job for five months of the year?" he says.

The Switcher

John Marino worked as a stockbroker for a couple of years. But some careers are false starts. "I was pretty good at it, but I didn't love it. I just lost my interest in it," he says. When a friend pointed to his knack for fiddling around with computers, Marino, 32, took a few courses at a technical school on Long Island. But he still lacked the experience to get hired in a corporate IT department. Then, through Interim Technology, he got a position on the help desk of a unit of IBM. Two years and two promotions later, Marino is now an account supervisor.