The career of the average professional can often be better described as "careers" -- jumps from sales to business development, from middle management to the corner office. Often these moves are more a series of happy accidents and unexpected opportunities than the result of a clearly mapped-out career plan.

But what happens when the horizon is clear of opportunity or your career has stalled and you feel it's time for a change: How can you take charge of that change?

Two people who should know are Glendon Rowell and Alistair Lamont. Mr. Rowell started his career nearly 40 years ago in the information technology department of a New York publisher. That job led to another in marketing, then into management. For more than 20 years however, he has been a recruiter in Hong Kong and Manila, where he heads Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. Mr. Lamont's first career step was his first business -- a scuba-diving school in Hereford, England. He followed that up with work in sales and marketing before opening his own London recruitment firm. Now he runs ID Coaching Ltd., a Hong Kong job coaching company.

Messrs Rowell and Lamont give a laid-off reader advice on changing career focus.

Q: I have worked in the financial services industry as a credit analyst for five years and recently lost my job as a result of restructuring. I am looking for opportunities to move into a mainstream financial position at a large established bank or small boutique firm. Not having worked at a large bank, I am finding it hard to sell myself to large institutions or to write a resume that would sell my skills in a different industry. I'm also open to finding a position outside the financial industry.

Any suggestions?

[Name Withheld]

Hong Kong

Be Realistic

First, be realistic -- it's an uphill battle trying to make a shift between industries in a tight job market. Employers favor people with proven experience in their industry, Mr. Rowell says. "I had a lawyer approach me a few years back and say, 'I can't do this work anymore -- I'd like to get into marketing. Can you help me?' " Mr. Rowell says. "I looked at him like he had two heads."

Recruiters are often viewed by job candidates as their advocate, but remember -- recruiters work for client companies looking for new hires, not the other way around. "If I presented this guy to my client for a marketing job, they would have fired me," Mr. Rowell says.

Being laid-off doesn't help the situation. Although the break gives you a chance to take your career in a new direction, you'll have to convince prospective employers that your interest and aptitude are suited to the position and are not just an effort to get a job, any job, Mr. Lamont says.

Nonetheless, jumping into a new industry is exciting, and that excitement can pay off if you can demonstrate that to an employer. "It's enthusiasm that sells people when they're applying for a job," he says.

"Be prepared to take a pay cut and enter at a lower position," says Mr. Lamont, who took a $40,000 a year cut when he became a recruiter. Two years later he started his own recruitment company that earned more than $745,000 a year. "It can pay off in the long run," he says.

Get Industry Advice

The first step is to make sure you want to make this move, Mr. Rowell says. To get advice here, Mr. Rowell suggests going to an unlikely source -- your former company. No one else knows your work better, and a trusted former boss can give you an honest assessment of how your skills may fit in a different position, he says. "Go back to your old employer -- hopefully you left on good terms -- and talk to someone there about the kind of position you're looking for, and ask how you would go about finding that kind of work," he says. "Ask them how your previous work matches what you want to do, and how it doesn't match."

Next, collar a friend or contact at a respected company in the industry you want to break into and ask about their work, Mr. Lamont says. What is their average day like? What are the largest problems they've faced in the past year? How did they handle them?

Not only will this help you evaluate whether or not you are still interested in that line of work, but it will prepare you to ask intelligent questions if you get interviews at other companies.

Messrs Rowell and Lamont also recommend asking if it's possible to spend time in the contact's office to get a feel for the work.

Identify Transferable Skills

There are times when headhunters present "out-of-the-box candidates" for positions they are trying to fill. "A classic example is when we were looking for the general manager of an insurance company," Mr. Rowell says. The position had a sales and marketing focus, but the company wanted someone with strong analytical skills to evaluate the variety of programs they supplied to their customers. "So we looked at people from companies like a Hewlett Packard or an IBM where you knew they had strong analytical skills -- they didn't know the business, really weren't insurance specialists, but they had the skills to do the job," he says. Eventually a candidate with experience at IBM was chosen for the job. "There are times when we mix and match people from different industries -- but the key is their skills are transferable," he says.

Mr. Lamont asks clients to write down three major accomplishments of the past year under three headings: situation, action taken and result. The clients then write in details that will help prospective employers see how their experience has prepared them for the new role.

For example, if you're a sales executive trying to get into advertising, describe how you captured new clients and kept old ones-important skills for either discipline, he says. Then enclose that document with your resume. "That way you'll answer many of their questions before they're asked," Mr. Lamont says.