Taking breaks between contracts

[rootsnall]

The telly is pretty good, illegal cable everywhere !

[DimPrawn]

why dont' you go to South America or something?

Rebecca in "contractors lifestyle!" mode

Telly's even worse there.

[rootsnall]

I went to Sth America on my last jolly and ended up having 8 months off.

[Rebecca Loos]

why dont' you go to South America or something?

Rebecca in "contractors lifestyle!" mode

[DimPrawn]

There's nothing on telly.

[Rebecca Loos]

you're on holidays and you post on this board?

[DimPrawn]

I've been on a sabatical since June and will probably not look for work until the late autumn. Never worried me. That's the beauty of contracting, taking 6 month holidays.

[rootsnall]

I'm with t0bytoo ! I've had loads of time off, 6 months+ quite a few times, one of the perks of the job to balance the boredom and nights in hotels. Only once did I struggle a bit when the market was ropey when I got back to the UK but something turned up in the end.

[t0bytoo]

I frequently take chunks of time off, and have often tolda client that a six month gap in my cv was spent riding a motorcycle around south america.

Other times, I fudge the dates a little. Either way, I don't think it really matters, if you are good enough at what you do you should have no trouble walking into a contract.

And a clever client will realise that someone fresh from a 6 month sojourn is going to have a much better attitude and sense of well being than some guy who's scared to extracate his nose from the grindstone.

This is an industry of blaggers. At all levels.

By hook or by crook, I say.

[Not So Wise]

It's risky taking to long a break between contracts unless you have very strong CV/In demand skill set.

Problem though does not so much lay with clients more with agencys as if it has been a while since your last contract (gaps before your last contract i find are imaterial) they will not put your cv forward no matter how suitable you are if they have someone else semi suitable who just came off a contract

I took off most of late 2001/early 2002 off to recover from "madness" of the previous 5 years and when i came back could not get a single agency to put me forward for positions (or they would say they did but you know they did not..always annoys me when they do that..be honest you buggers i am a grown up and can take rejection)

In the end after a lot of struggleing managed to go direct with a client to get myself in motion again.

[contractsurfer]

I've had back-to-back contracts for 10 yrs now with the odd week off along the way. Now I'm thinking I don't need to work all year and am considering taking a break - Perhaps 4 to 6 months to recharge the batteries.

My only concern is that it may affect how clients view my CV. I've heard that a CV with a gap between contracts doesn't look good. I presume clients assume that you struggled to find a contract and they understandable want the best.

Has anyone adopted a part-time approach to contracting and would like comment ? Should I be concerned ? How long is an acceptable break from working ?