That's the problem. I really don't have transferable skills. It's not like someone managed projects in X industry and can move to Y industry. Software is pretty specific set of skills and I'd basically be a junior if I moved to a different area.
The problem is industry wide right now. Everyone on the team who got laid off is still looking as far as I know. And everywhere I look people seem to be seeing the same. Hiring is broken. Companies want the 150% unicorn candidate and keep re-posting the same job over and over and I'm sure they've interviewed a bunch of people who could do the job and a few years ago would have been hired. They tell you "we've decided to go with another candidate or other candidates more aligned with the team's needs" and then they re-post, and re-post, and re-post. It's dumb.
And the rise of AI is such that recruiters overly rely on it which means lots of qualified people get overlooked and also there are services that will spam every open position for you with your resume whether it applies or not to the job so the hiring side also gets a flood of applications, many or even most of which are junk, and that gums things up.
Anyway, I'm not trying to complain (too much). I just wanted to report back on the events of earlier this week that I had solicited the good waves for.
This happened to us once, the other half had a good job he could work remotely from so we moved away from a built up area to a village and two month in IT financials collapsed his company went bust his pension went south, we had a new mortgage, thankfully a lot of savings and he took 9 months to get a job that was in the same field.
I said take something else, but he said he was gritting his teeth and waiting, he got a job at his level but it was more local away from the city and took a pay cut, losing almost 20 percent. Luckily for us our savings had held out, and the new income despite being a big cut was offset by his lower travel bills and shorter journey. a few years in he took a job and extra hour away, so 2 hours extra per day, but his pay went back up, he got a good car allowance and travel allowance per mile. He no longer had to wear really expensive suits after the first move. and this company was eventually bought out allowing him to keep his position his pay grade, and allowed him to work from home 3/4 weeks but with overseas travel on the 4 week. That and the usual yearly business on performance left us in a really good position.
But the stress at times of the unknown was considerable.
Because when we moved the job loss was a scary situation, we cut down all bills, once he had a new job, we over paid on the mortgage at every point. Some friends and family were like oh you should buy a new car, new furniture, go expensive holidays, and we just threw everything at the mortgage every chance we had, and set up a buffer zone in case of a repeat. Paying off the mortgage years early was a relief.
We then used the buffer zone to buy a car cash, and no mortgage no car loan we just bought stuff when we had the cash. Occasionally it meant waiting, or not buying a better quality furniture product, or doing a do it yourself repair project rather than getting in a contractor.
but we are now in a good position,
Meantime your in the 6 months grim position where a lot of any buffer has been eaten away (i thought you were in work looking to move) I assume you looked at short contracts, and have done all the appropriate belt tightening, so all I can offer is platitudes. Which basically was my previous uniformed post on this subject - so apologies because I know just how scary this is.
I just hope that someone gives you that important chance. The fact that other former workmates are in the same position means there’s more competition than you need

I won’t offer more platitudes. your clearly chasing the work, please feel free to vent when needed because my husband had that with me and I had that with him from my wife position, (not turning on each other was an important coping mechanism)and 10 years before the above incident we had a home repossessed when mortgage interest went from 5% to 15% plus a 2% penalty so 17% because we were behind, I got pregnant as the price hikes started and had no 2 year maternity cover, I even offered a termination, but he was Catholic and that was never going to sit well he said it would have destroyed our marriage. We lost the home, kept the high ground and had our eldest. The worst thing was friends I say ‘friends’ in a loose context because we rang one friend who had a company and once he said he had lost his job that friend could not get off the phone fast enough - we always assumed he thought my husband was going to ask him for a job. (the could have just said sorry not possible atm but we were not chasing him for work!) But it is in such times you find out who your friends are.
no platitudes, just I hope something turns up.
Meantime if you need to vent I am sure the people here will be supportive.
I remember the lost my job, travelling long distance to a shitty job, lost my wife, lost the rented home we lived in forever, had to move a long way. Life can be really shitty

I hope you have someone in real life that can let you vent
Sorry such a long post.