I'm starting on the second 5-year cycle of doing this. If you have done any contracting during the time I'd also encourage calling that out. Right now I'm doing

I'm starting on the second 5-year cycle of doing this. If you have done any contracting during the time I'd also encourage calling that out. Right now I'm doing contracting and working on my own ideas. I realistically expect to get burned out and desire to return to full time employment in a year (if not sooner). You may not always have your preferred choice of company but you shouldn't need to give up too much either so long as you are not actually desperate. Reiterating: doing what you're doing has worked out for me in the past (though saying "I was contracting" also helped I think), I'm doing it again right now, and I expect to be able to find full time roles again in the future without a big problem.