I have been in various permanent roles in the same uni for almost 6 years. Th role I have now is in many way perfect - part time, reasonably paid, in my area of expertise with lovely colleagues. However, budgets are AWFUL this year and my boss's boss has just summarily cancelled almost all the resource subscriptions I need to do my job. They are now making noises about staffing levels, refusing to fill vacancies etc. Let's just say I've got a bad feeling about this! I don't want to end up out of a job unexpectedly.
So I had a look at the jobs board and there's a 2 year full time project role I think I'd be OK for - it's grant funded so no possibility of becoming permanent. My youngest is just about to start school in Sep so I was looking at going full time anyway. It's a step away from my preferred profession but a very interesting project.
I have had a lot of fixed term roles before and I have always really excelled in them - clearly defined objectives and an end point seem to galvanise me somehow and get the best out of me, whereas in permanent roles where its just business as usual/incremental change I can get a bit paralysed. Having said that I have two young kids and a mortgage, and a partner who commutes to work (both these jobs are walking distance from my home). I am 40 this year. I can't afford to be out of work for any real length of time.
Would I be crazy to jump from a pretty cushy set-up when I'm not even sure I'm going to be pushed? And can you really make a career out of short term/project-based roles, or will that perforce mean some time sitting around unemployed and applying for everything every couple of years?