Going back to my old career?

Dear Liz,


I have been applying for jobs that I last held 12 years ago. I had 17 years
experience in this field when I stopped.

I stopped working in this field due to the birth of my first child. Then a
second child came and then when I returned to the workforce, I utilized my field
knowledge in the insurance side of things.

I am not getting any calls for these hand delivered resumes and cover letters. I
have gone back and gotten the necessary licenses and certifications for this
field, yet I am sure once the resume is reviewed, the doctor sees that I was in
insurance for the last 10 years and assumes my technical skills necessary for
this healthcare field are rusty, so they don't call.

How can I represent myself as someone who wants to return to the field and show
them I can do it, it is just like riding a bike, I did it for 17 years
previously and that I was darned good at it.

Please advise and thank you

------------------- NOTE FROM LIZ:------------------------

Dear Nan,

You will re-write your resume so that it doesn't just list your job titles and
years of employment, but it creates a philosophical and linguistic frame that
makes it instantly, abundantly clear to the hiring manager that s/he needs to
talk with you. We will take the buyer's (the hiring manager's) perspective and
use the resume to talk about what's most important to him or her. We can start
by finding the relevance of your insurance work to the pain the doctor is
feeling now -- the reason for the current opening, in other words.

Can you take a stab at answering the question "How did those ten years in
insurance make me a better candidate for this job today than someone who lacks
my experience?"

Thanks! Liz