MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.  It is hard to think of any job-hunting skills that Alexis Lovell lacks. As a recruiter for Silicon Valley technology companies, and before that, for retailers, she has advised job candidates on résumé preparation, personal presentation and interview skills for the last eight years. Networking strategies and trolling social networks and online job sites are the tools of her trade.

Yet none of those things is helping one candidate in need of a job these days: Ms. Lovell herself.

Unemployed since mid-November, when Plantronics let go of its five recruiters, Ms. Lovell has reached out by e-mail message to nearly 400 well-connected hiring managers and technology executives she knows, and she has phoned about that many.

“No bites,” she said during a networking luncheon for recruiters earlier this month in Mountain View, not far from the campuses of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other tech giants. When she is not looking for work, Ms. Lovell spends much of her time with her 2-year-old daughter, whom she took out of day care to save money.

“I am trying to make the best of my time at home,” Ms. Lovell said. “And not shop,” she chuckled.

The majority of the approximately 90 recruiters who attended the networking luncheon were in the same situation. The monthly luncheon, now in its 11th year, has long been a source of job leads for countless recruiters, and many showed up last week with the faint hope of hearing about an opening for themselves. What they found were old friends, unemployed colleagues and words of encouragement. They also got a few tips on adapting their skills to other professions and one offer for affordable health care.