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Vicky Farrow had reached crisis point following the break-up of her marriage. Suffering emotional stress and wanting to spend more time with her child, she gave up her job as a maintenance officer at a housebuilding firm. Last year, while unemployed, she saw a one-year maintenance post with Knightstone Housing Association advertised in her local paper. She applied, got the job and hasn鈥檛 looked back since.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how I would cope as a single mother, so this gave me the chance to test the water without committing to a permanent job,鈥� explains Farrow. Her temporary role worked out so well that at Christmas she accepted an offer to make it permanent.

There are temporary roles in housing at every level, from basic administration jobs and housing officers, right up to interim chief executive. These offer people with housing experience the chance to alter their work/life balance 鈥� for example, if they want to have children or to spend more time with their families 鈥� or take their career in a new direction.

A temporary role at a lower level could be that vital first step towards getting a permanent position with a particular association or in an area of work that really interests you. Associations and councils are sometimes prepared to take on a temp with less experience or fewer qualifications than they would require of a permanent employee so this is a chance to get a position you would not otherwise be considered for.

Bridget Waters, communications executive for Plus Housing Group, got her first taste of housing in 1998 after she finished her English degree. She began temping as a clerical assistant in the repairs and maintenance department of Riverside Housing Association. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know anything about housing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 learned a massive amount from dealing with tenants face to face when they came in to report repairs or chase them, and I made a lot of contacts that I still use today.鈥�

Her admin job helped Waters secure the job of customer services manager when that post came up. That was followed by another temporary role 鈥� a secondment to work on tenant relations for a stock transfer project. This in turn helped Waters acquire the communication skills to land her present job.

Many people considering a temp job worry that the money won鈥檛 be as good. But in fact the financial package for temps should be equal to that for a permanent job. Temps placed by agencies are, under the European Working Time Directive, entitled to either identical benefits 鈥� including pensions, sick pay and paid holidays 鈥� to those enjoyed by permanent staff in the same role, or the equivalent in cash on top of normal pay, according to Mary Hope, senior consultant at Bartlett Scott Edgar Recruitment Solutions.

If you鈥檙e planning to get back into housing through temping, human resources departments recommend approaching the association or council you most recently worked for. Rachel Osborne, managing consultant at recruitment consultant Veredus, says up to three-quarters of temporary workers in housing get jobs through personal contacts. If networking doesn鈥檛 turn up the right role, try the local and housing press or a housing recruitment agent. Given the skills shortage in housing, says Osborne, you鈥檙e likely to find something before too long.

You may need to manage your career more closely, though. Hope warns: 鈥淭emps don鈥檛 tend to be given the most interesting work or the best training. They鈥檙e likely to be the ones left on an association鈥檚 front desk.鈥�

Remember that temping isn鈥檛 an easy ride 鈥� in some ways it requires more resilience than a long-term position, which gives you more time to get settled. In a temporary position, you must prove yourself quickly. As assistant director of housing management at Community Housing Association Paul Coates points out, that means making sure you hit the ground running. This means getting on with new people as quickly as possible and identifying the key staff members in order to build your relationship with them.