I am a professional looking for a job but can't even get recruiters to call me back! Help!?

I have 10 years of varied marketing experience and a proven track record of success. I have a resume which I believe well highlights my experience and successes. I lost my Marketing Dir. job when my chicaho office closed in 2005. Since that time, I successfully created and opened a successful small business near my home town. I have decided to sell my shares in the business and get back into the traditional work force. I have been looking for a marketing job for over 4 months now and can't even get recruiters to call me back??? I'm not sure if my entrepenuerial spirit has totally ruined my chances of working in the corporate world again. Should I not even include this venture on my resume? If I don't, how do I explain the last two years and what I've been up to? I need advice on how to get back to work soon!

Their are no jobs.

While Americans have been pursuing material goods and too big houses, a drastic change has been happening very, very quietly.

Congress have enacted a few laws in the past couple years that have ever so quietly and without media coverage, increased Americans' costs to live and do business.

When you consider the drastic increases in fuel and utilities and then add the fact that your credit cards minimum payments have doubled AND your Adjustable Rate Mortgage has gone through the roof, the average Amercan middle class has no money left from their paychecks to buy anything.

Well its happened to companies too. In the past year sales have remained stagnant, yet every single cost to do business, from steel, stamps, paper to the light bill has increased. We, and many other companies, have had to lay off workers to keep the doors open. And its happening, all over the place.

Except for finance/credit companies, banks, health care, pharmaceutical and oil/gas companies; the new congressional laws benefit them and screw the rest of us.

So I would suggest you either find a recruiter that specializes in that area, or just "market" yourself.

As a former headhunter, I can tell you, you don't need a recruiter if you can sell yourself.

Good luck to you.

Though I am not familiar with the marketing world, it sounds like you have plenty of desireable traits. I would certainly include your private venture, it shows leadership and the ability to cover all aspects of running a business.

Obviously, there are probably many other factors involved here. If you are trying to stay where you are, your market is smaller than if you considered the U.S. as a whole.

I would also hope you are utilizing online job posting areas such as monster and careerbuilder. I got countless calls and it took me about 4 months to get the job I wanted. Then I spent the next months letting them all know I got what I needed.

As far as the resume thing goes, there are a lot of places to help with that (myself included if you want). I would recommend, with your amount of experience, a cover sheet that is a highlighted, bulleted version of your long resume.

Hope I have helped a little, if nothing else, know that I am sure you will do fine!

It sounds like your resume is great! However, I totally understand where you're coming from. Is it rough out there. Have you tried search engines like Career Builder and Monster? You can also try Journalismjobs.com and mediabistro.com. Trust me, these aren't just jobs at newspapers. They have several marketing jobs and PR jobs as well. I'm not sure what kind of marketing you did i.e. consumer or business-to-business, but I would give those engines a try. Good luck with the search!

Recruiters are not calling you back not because they don't like your qualifications, but because they don't have any job that match your skills (at least that is what they think). Recruiters don't work for candidates. They work for companies who pay them. They will only call you if you think you will help them make money.

What you need to do is to go to job posting web sites and find a specific position that matches your skill. Craft your resume (or have a professional do it) so it will include words and phrases that appear on the job posting. Then send it in. Sometimes recruiter's web site have jobs posted, but, you have to know most of the time, those postings are not real. They do that just to get you interested. So don't be discouraged. I found the response rates much greater if you send in crafted resumes and cover letters rather than sending generic one size fit all resume and cover letter.

For every $10,000 in salary, you have to expect to spend 1 month before you get an offer. So, if you expect to get paid $100,000, 10 months is not too long.

Not having seen your resume I can only specuate. But when you don't get any calls in response to your resume it usually means that there is somehting wrong with your resume, the cover letter, or both.

A commnon error is listing accomplishments without showing clear value and benefit to the business. Don't expect anyone to read between the lines. And don't forget that the initial review process may be done by machine or a lower-level HR staffer who knows nothing about the job at hand. They're looking for key phrases, as well as packages that are clearly targeted to the opening at hand. A generic resume is bad, and a generic cover letter is death.

Whenever you submit a resume, fine tune it to the position you are applying for. Write an individual cover letter for that position alone and address it personally to the hiring manager that you wish to interview with.

Don't forget to follow up! Especially in sales and marketing! If you don't bother to follow up doggedly to get the interview, prospective employers will assume that that's the way that you will work for them -- pretty useless in those fields!