If you continue in contracting, it is entirely normal to have breaks between projects and good advice is to budget for them accordingly. The length of the break depends on your skills and area of expertise, but a few months is not unusual and even six is not big problem in CV terms. If the break gets longer than you feel comfortable with, it is quite a good idea to explain it in interviews by saying, “I had worked on a very intense project for a year and a half and so deliberately took a few months off, so I’ve only been seriously looking for the last 6-8 weeks.” Or the other old chestnut is to claim you’ve been travelling. In essence just don’t make it sound like you’ve been hanging by the phone for half the year. One of the problems with contracting is that candidates are usually needed almost immediately and agencies will therefore not accept you for interviews until you’re no more than two weeks away from end your contract. Avoiding breaks usually means being very lucky with timings, or transferring to a new project with the same client.The more difficult question is the issue of searching out permanent employment. Most perm agencies and recruiters will be very suspicious of contractors who apply for perm jobs while not in a contract. The fear is that it is a sign of desperation rather than preference. If you truly are just filling in time contracting and would prefer to return to perm, by all means keep applying, but be aware that the best chance of a perm job may come from a) taking a contract and then turning perm with the client, or b) taking a contract and then continuing to interview for perm – that way you can show commitment to giving up the contract.Enjoy the break at christmas - keep checking the job sites and submitting CV's and that way you may have an interview to come back to.Good luck.
