I think, considering the way our economy and job market currently is, "shotgun" makes the most sense.

It's why I'm doing both art and self-publishing. That way, if my art doesn't bring in much money (why I've gone on hiatus for a month) I can focus on my other "trade", in this case, writing.

This way you're not relying on specialized skills (or just one stream of income) to pay the bills.

Specialization---"Jack of all trades, master of none." comes to mind. But in that vein, a specialist, i.e. an expert, can command a better salary and negotiations during the hiring process than someone who is not.

When it comes to my own career as a freelancer (so this may or may not apply to your situation), it has been harder the more I spread myself out. I shotgunned at first to see what I was good at and what sold, but I'm now able to focus in on just a few things and I become more inefficient if I'm doing something I know isn't honed in on what I want to do with my career. So in my experience it might be worth it short-term to spread out, but you'd want to move gradually closer to your desired specialty and never away from it.

I'm a Jack. I've found that being a Jack has helped me more than hindered me because it not only gives me different skills and life experiences but also different perspectives as well. Working as a housekeeper is different than a butcher, different from a cashier, from a home health assistant, a clothing associate, a swim instructor, trail crew, a warehouse employee- but through all that the skills I have are wanted and can place me anywhere. I have a certificate but no finished degrees yet ( though.... I'll be able to get a double associate come this next summer!) 3 years in a bachelors of science: NRM with forestry emphasis, 1 year from completing my RN associate's degree, and 2 classes from an associates in arts.
I find that employers have put a lot of emphasis on being able to adapt to the situation. Experience and education can get you in a door for sure ( I can't be a coordinator without having a bachelor's for example ;_; ) ... but being flexible helps and taking jobs you'd might never normally take otherwise ( ..... butcher. swim instructor.... * hand gesture?!?!* ) . By doing THIS and the fun stuff I have done in my free time ( arts! and you can put junior web page designer if you have done any coding at all!) ... there's a huge amount of skills and situations that I can continue to draw from even into my nursing degree which is where I want to go.
But market helps too.
In the area I'm at it's basically shipping and receiving. But there are farms, and pools, and office buildings, and there's parks and rec, music venues, hospitals, research centers, food, stores of all kinds, logistics.... They manufacture things here, construction is big/coming back...
AK has a -very- extremely narrow market for jobs. There's not a lot going on and a lot of spaces have already been filled. When I was looking for internships you had to know somebody or be a somebody AND have a car on top of it. IDK. It's a hard place to make a living there from where I had been and at. Expensive too.

Being a specialist will eventually get you a great job with pay to boot for it. But can be hard to find the fit.

Don't skimp on toting your skills, don't self-depreciate. Walk in with the confidence that your education and the years of blood/sweat and tears that you put into it will back you. * HUGS* I wish you the best of luck with finding something in the field you want to be in .

My mother ( who worked in hiring and HR for years) : "it depends on the job and the requirements. I look at availability. I also looked at if the person would remain with the company for a long period of time. If their job history showed they haven't held a job for more than a year, I would be less likely to hire them. "

It's hard to know because the landscape for hiring is changing drastically. Here are two facets that frame the way I think about this:

Each worker under age 30 is expected to change industries (not companies - career fields) at least 4 times during working life. When jobs are scarce and typically of a short duration (4yrs or less), and more productivity is being automated or outsourced, we're forced to take what we can get.

On the other side, more and more hiring teams use robo-recruiters. This means that if your application/resume doesn't match EXACTLY what they told the computer to look for, a human might never see your credentials.

From these I conclude that your job search should probably look in as many places and industries as possible with your credentials, but your applications should be laser-focused to give you the best chance of making it past HR's digital gatekeepers.