HELP: Career advice - ER London

I need some advice on my current situation. Here's some context/background:

• Graduated in summer 2017. Completed equity research internship in medium sized UK AM. Secured full time role starting Jan 2018 in UK equity team

• Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to be moved to the global team at the start of 2019 (not due to my performance).

• Their investment style was completely different to what I was used to e.g. they wanted me to write up a thesis + pitch within 48 hours on a company outside of my previous sector (which I thought was dumb af) vs UK team who gave me the freedom to spend a good week or 2 writing up on a company

• After 6 months of trying to argue my side/meet ridiculous deadlines while studying for CFA, I was let go from the company in July 2019.

It's now 2020... and I've had no real traction getting back into ER either on the buy side or sell side. My issue is I've only had 1.5 years experience therefore can't credibly apply to associate roles and I'm also being rejected from graduate roles based on my age/experience level. I feel very stuck in the middle as very few roles pop up which are looking for experience of 1-2 years. I've had 2 interviews and both haven't worked out despite the interviews going as well as I think they could have ( clearly not well enough). After slogging through 2 CFA exams (and signed up L3 in June), I'm wondering...

1. Spending 7 months unemployed, at what point do I face the 'writing on the wall' and just say I'm not cut out for this?
2. Frankly I only want to do ER on buy or sell side. I've thought about moving into different finance functions e.g. consulting/IR but frankly competition is almost as high. Given my ER experience, feels like it would be just as tough to land a role... in something I'm not passionate about.
3. Has anyone faced a similar situation? What did you do to solve it?

Any advice would be appreciated!