I'm taking the first steps to leave my current job and need some help figuring out where I should go next.
For context, I've worked a couple of jobs across the private and public sectors, with my current job being at a consultancy. I like the work-life balance, my colleagues and openness to personal development at my current role but don't like how inconsistent the workload can be. It's often peaks and valleys when it comes to how much work needs to be done on a weekly or sometimes monthly basis. It usually means as employees, we sometimes have several days of little to no work, which to me feels like a waste of time that I could be using to develop my skills through actual projects. Also, the pay is lower than the average in my city. (Not a massive issue, but times are tough with inflation.) The other issue is that I'm often jumping around many different tools and languages, which has been good for building general skills, but I want to build more of an expertise in something.
Here's where I'm stuck. I'm looking at a ton of jobs and I find it difficult to know what is appropriate for me. I often second guess things like the job title, seniority level (This one especially. I never feel like I'm good enough.), type of company and pay, just to name a few.
I know there isn't a "perfect company" and at some point I need to bite the bullet.
What I'm hoping some people can answer is some questions to ask myself, or even a checklist to work through to overcome the overthinking and just start applying for things. I'm hoping that this sort of process can get myself to a point of applying once I've added some extra details to the resume.
What are your thoughts? What steps do you take to deciding on a company/role to apply for?