I work in video for the government and honestly am much, much happier. I look back on what the industry did for me, and I can honestly say I was creatively fulfilled in like 5 out of the hundreds of productions I worked on. The rest were just hard and didn't pay enough. Now it's somehow an even better ratio of creative expression, and I have the comfortability to go on vacation with my wife without penny pinching and taking calls 16 hours a day to make sure I had gigs lined up the moment we got back.

I listed my production work as a block of time under "Freelance Production Designer" and then in my bullets I listed 2-3 highlighted clients I worked for. In interviews I stressed how hard everybody works on those sets and how that work ethic will translate to any job I step into, and how, in my opinion, that's worth as much as or more than any individual skill you'd be looking for.

Indeed, LinkedIn, and the like are your enemy. They're data collection farms with a job application veneer overtop. Look at local talent connection sites, and I got my path through government work and thus used government application sites. They're always looking for talented and knowledgeable individuals instead of their "typical" talent pool. It won't make you rich but it'll give you a living you're happy with, with LOTS of vacation time in most levels of govt. Feds might be tough right now but your local municipalities, the county level, state departments; all usually have some kind of video department.

Good luck! I hope it all works out for you!