Contract work or permanent, which would you take? - any advice?

I got a contract offer for 16 months as a retail manager and I am unsure whether to accept. I would rather hear the honest version than the polite one. I would gain recent experience. How did you handle benefits?

If savings are low, I would accept and keep applying. You can leave for a permanent role if one appears.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.