How would you go about finding a recruiter sans LinkedIn? :)
At which point you're pretty much always going to be asked for a LinkedIn, and pretty much noone will want to put work in for someone not doing something has simple as creating an account. So, unfortunately, as the other comment said, swallow your pride.
These networks have made it so that the cost of idealism is being cut off socially, whether that's friends or employers.
_Using_ LI, costs attention too, increasingly so, as with all social networks, but you also receive some in exchange, so if you don't value your own attention all that much higher than every other human's on the planet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
...yeah, it's pride.
How much money have you made by creating a profile on HN and reading and posting to it and giving it your attention since 2015?
This is how they do it, they don't mind if candidates do it back.
Likewise with follow-ups. Anytime I follow-up on an interview, I never hear back or it is rejected, so I've stopped following up after interviews completely.
But asking around is best; shoot a few messages to ex-colleagues on linkedin.
If you list the right skills they will find you.
If you haven't and your gap is for other reasons I'd write a "skills based cv" and definitely spend at least 2 weeks reminding yourself everything you need to know before you go for technical interview. There is no worse feeling than getting a technical question you knew an answer for, but you can't quite remember what is was.
I also found it's easier to apply directly rather than through recruiters if you have a big gap in your work.