I had a great conversation today that really got me thinking.

One of the toughest challenges HR and Talent Acquisition leaders face is how to leverage expertise without creating long-term overhead. Too often, organisations hesitate to bring in senior TA or HR talent because they’re not sure how the role evolves after the build phase. This can lead to missed opportunities or worse, frustrated high-potential employees with no clear next step.

That’s where fractional or interim talent can play such a powerful role in TA/HR functions.

• Experts come in to design and build processes, tools, and teams.
• They hand it over to the business or HR team once it’s running smoothly.
• The company benefits from senior-level expertise without being locked into a permanent structure.

It’s not just cost-efficient, it’s also responsible hiring. It prevents over-promising career progression to internal TA/HR teams when there may not be enough roles to move people into, while still giving the organisation access to fresh thinking, best practices, and scalable frameworks.

I’ve seen resistance to this model in the past, but I’m encouraged to see more leaders exploring it now. Perhaps the market is finally catching up to the idea that not every TA/HR role has to be permanent to create lasting organisational impact.

What do you think? Will fractional hiring in Talent Acquisition and HR become a mainstream solution?