Don't want to sound negative, but there needs to be at least some value proposition. An employer isn't going to be super impressed if the pitch is "I'd like flex hours, training, open to anything, gimme gimme gimme". Everyone is "willing to learn"; the difference is who talks the talk and who walks the walk. She needs to have some sort of target role and be at least able to demonstrate passing familiarity with some popular technology.

As for cold networking, two options are:

- talking to recruiting agencies, which often have a pool of employers that they have relationships with and can help open doors

- good ol' cold calling - research companies that you feel are good matches and are hiring, send a resume and go from there

A third potential option is to do freelance w/ local mom-and-pop shops, at least temporarily, to build up a small portfolio, dust off tech chops and getting the google-fu up to speed.

Often times, non-tech companies have less strict/technically challenging hiring processes. These are good companies to aim for.

For her old experience specifically, I hear that there is demand for COBOL in some government niches. Might be worth looking into.