Job hunting for a year and I need help!

[coachinghelp]

I've never found it hard to find a job before but I've been looking for a year and I'm getting really down about it.

I'm mid-40s. I have an Oxbridge degree and MA. Between 2002 and 2019 I have an unbroken work history in the charity sector — from 2011-19 this was at senior management level, my last role in this period was as Marketing & Fundraising Director at a small-to-medium well-regarded charity.

I relocated in 2019 from London to another large city. Since then, I’ve been self-employed as a Marketing & Fundraising consultant, working for charities - I’ve had 15-20 decent clients and I’m pretty pleased with how it’s all going. I joined a really well respected organisation’s board and spent a 5 year term on there.

I’ve interspersed this with some part time contract roles - 2 fixed term maternity covers and 1 which I left voluntarily 18 months ago on amicable terms. Generally the contract roles have been a level below my last long-term position - manager not director - but I’m not too bothered by that. I’ve also diversified, so moved into adjacent fields like copywriting.

While self employed, I also started freelance writing and reviewing based around my field, and this is where it gets a bit weird. I’ve also edited a non fiction book which ended up doing really well, as these things go (good reviews in broadsheets, earned out its advance immediately, got invited to speak at literary festivals etc, deal for a second book). So with consultancy, writing and contract work, it gets a bit muddled. As recently as 2022 I was picking up contract work relatively easily, but nothing has bitten all year. Agents tell me my CV is “really impressive” but I don’t know if this is code for “a bit much” or something! I’ve been getting interviews, and down to the last 2 on several occasions, but nothing has worked. It’s clear that some combination of all this has made me less employable, but I’m not exactly sure what.

I know people say "just take anything" but I'm not even sure that the "anything" jobs are there for me either. I am self-employed with consultancy clients at a decent day rate, so I do have work on. I just want stability and I’m ready to go back in-house.

I'm finding it really hard to stay positive.

Is this something a career coach could help with? And how do I find one?

@coachinghelp

Maybe try and tailor it to the role?

When you’re going for the senior ones supported by a team, where the job description expects you to be writing the strategy then you focus on that bit in the interview, and tack on in passing that you’re also very happy mucking in and developing the material as well.

When it’s a smaller organisation and the job is doing both you describe doing the both.

When it’s a role that’s about the do work, you emphasise that bit, and drop into the mix that you can do some strategy too but keep rhe message that you’re very comfortable working within a team and following a strategy.

I'm finding this thread really useful and interesting, particularly as I'm in a similar position to you @coachinghelp , with a similar background.

I would say it's not only very tough out there, but also quite exhausting to navigate when you have quite a lot of senior experience and those potentially hiring you might be 5-10 years younger than you, with less career experience - it can make for an odd dynamic in interviews.

It's also unfortunate that because the economy is so poor, a lot of jobs that lean into creative talent are viewed as 'nice to have' rather than 'essential.' Some sectors seem to view marketing skills as something a lot of junior or admin people can easily do - I've seen a few 'office and marketing manager' roles advertised recently - they are completely different skillsets in my view, but it shows how they are perceived.

Finally, and just with solidarity, the potentially negative career impact to go freelance/self employed when raising a young family is definitely something I'll be making my daughters aware of when they reach that age! For me, going down this route seemed to make absolute sense when kids were small...but now I'm finding it quite shocking how difficult it is to get a role being employed for a single company again, despite my experience.

Good luck, OP - let us know how you get on!

Agreed

Are you also in the copywriting industry? Everyone got very excited about it in 2023, but two years on it is actually creating work for us, as clients are starting to notice a drop off in clickthroughs for anything wholly AI generated. Terrible for customer-facing stuff that gets results. Great for reducing word counts, summarising meetings and initial ideation though.

I have in the past. I work in MarTech so All of my clients and stakeholders are in marketing! So my job is marketing adjacent so I’m aware of the trends.

I also got a job within weeks not that long ago, so I’m pretty aware of the “market”.

@Huskyeye Ah, great. Yes the odd dynamic certainly rings true - it's strange what a difference being a few years older makes. I'm definitely seeing the size of teams reduce and yes, jobs getting stuck together as you say. Plus salaries being stuck at 2011 levels.

I'm trying to think what I would advise someone else to do, and I think maybe it's to set up my consultancy as more of a business / boutique agency that I'm director of, get another board post or two, and try and go back in at emphatically a senior management level in a year or so, if the third sector still exists. Just thinking out loud.

Edit (posted too soon) - but thank you! And solidarity to you and anyone else who is struggling right now. It's certainly a weird environment out there.

So, six years ago, you were aged late thirties, working as a Marketing and Fundraising Director, in London. Then you left employment, moved cities and became self-employed. Why?

i suspect the firms you are targeting would be likely to recruit the you of 2019, totally focused on one role.

Also, I wouldn’t expect a director to be spending her time copywriting.

Haha well I wasn’t in witness protection or anything, if that’s what you mean! I think I answer all your questions in previous posts (including how a consultant ends up doing delivery roles, hello small organisations/the arts). I had a young child so I valued the flexibility of freelancing. I’d been at the job for 5 years which was a good amount of time, I left at a natural break at the end of a big project. We left London because…why does anyone, you get a nicer house elsewhere. I walked straight into 2 consultancy contracts and about 6 weeks later I also got a book deal so it worked out fine.

In the time since 2019, I’ve had some sort of PAYE contract or mat cover employed job for around 50% of the time, 2-4 days a week, doing this alongside the freelancing. Job titles include Senior Marketing Manager and Head of Communications, so a bit below my best level but still solid. I just haven’t been able to get one of these jobs for almost a year, hence the post.

@LadyLapsang - you seem a bit chippy, why? Six years isn't a massive length of time over the course of an entire career, particularly given the pandemic and taking time out to raise a family. Also in small companies/charitable organisations, a director might well be leading on the copywriting if no-one else is there to do it...it's hardly like the OP said she was making the tea or anything...

How long ago did you get a job within weeks if you don’t mind me asking @CVVFan ?

Sorry zombie thread!

4 months :)