I'm stuck and my confidence is plummeting. I did a first degree in Law (never practiced), worked in academic publishing for a bit then moved into comms/marketing and occasionally fundraising roles mostly for charities, moved into senior-ish management. Had a kid in 2016. Went back part time to my old job (arts charity) the following year on a FTC until 2020. When that ended since just before the pandemic I've been freelance working as a consultant with a few short contracts dotted in. I started a parallel career as a writer on maternity leave (related to my postgrad degree which I studied for p/t while working). It's gone really surprisingly well (put out a book to good national press reviews etc) but I'm struggling to earn more than £15k a year from it so I do need a job too. My consultancy day rate is OK but I want the security of a 3-4 day a week post.
I'd always found comms-type roles worked really well for me, but the ones I'd see advertised in the 2000s/2010s needed editorial and copywriting skills which was great for me. Now the world seems so different. The equivalent roles now all TikTok/analytics/sales, salaries have stagnated, no one's doing print or even blogs, and I feel like I'm competing against 25 year olds and not playing to any of my strengths.
I think I'm good at strategic thinking, writing, big picture stuff. I'm OK at line management but I don't love it. I'm shit at admin and I although I can tweet with the best of them, I feel too old for Tik-Tok etc (I'm 40). I don't mind a bit of press/PR but I am certainly not a specialist in it. On a personal level, I struggle when I feel like a cog in a big machine and I do best when I feel like I can be myself.
Where do I go next? Has anyone else felt the same and left comms/marketing? What did you do?