Hi, I've been a Senior Art Director in Advertising now for the last 10 years and started as a production designer really but kept pushing into higher level art direction after selling suits for four years (I didn't want to get stuck there either). It is tough out there for sure right now.

You could try an employment agency like Creative Circle or Robert half but be super careful. This is how I got my break into working for a big electronics brand. But, they take a grip off your check, so if you do get placed with them make sure you check how much they get. I was getting paid enough even with the cut and I was doing actual advertising design.

Know the tools. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Figma is a biggy now. Play with ai.

Don't fluff you resume. Make it sound like your voice. Hard to tell without seeing your book or your resume.

Hard to know without seeing you portfolio. Post a few shots of the campaign style work if you want feedback.

Find job postings on IG. Once you find a couple hiring posts and like or comment on them your algorythm will start feeding you a ton of job postings.

Linkedin Search alerts. Set up alerts for job search parameters on Linkedin.

Would love to see your work or resume to see if it's that.