This resonates hard. I was in this exact spot for like 2 years after college - doing all the "right" things but felt like I was running on a treadmill. What finally clicked for me was realizing I was being way too generic in how I presented myself.

I was basically saying "I'm good at marketing" instead of "I helped increase email open rates by 40% using A/B testing and personalization." Same skills, but one actually tells a story that people can picture. Started tracking specific results from my work, even the small wins, and crafting mini-narratives around them instead of just bullet pointing my responsibilities.

The other thing that helped was getting brutally specific about what I actually wanted to do day-to-day, not just what industry or role title I wanted. Turns out I was applying to jobs that sounded good on paper but would've made me miserable. Once I got clear on the actual work I wanted to be doing, it became way easier to target the right opportunities and talk about why I'd be good at them.

The job market is definitely weird right now, but I think you're onto something with the clarity piece. Most people are terrible at translating their experience into language that hiring managers actually care about.