Don't buy into the current wisdom that in a recession it's almost impossible to change careers. Many assume with heightened competition for every job hiring managers are going to take the easy way and hire the person with the most applicable experience.

This assumption does not take into account the many employers who are looking for the value a candidate brings them who has a broader range of skills and who has the knowledge to work across several functional areas.

If you are planning to change careers this is the major benefit you have to sell to the prospective employer. Your transferable skills are the values you bring to match up with the employer's job requirements.

First, you need to assess your experience and skills in order to match the needs of the prospective employer. The better you can communicate the value of your transferable skills to the new position the greater distance you will be from the other job candidates.

In auditing your skills ask yourself what you love to do, what parts of this activity are you real good at, what personal qualities do you bring to the position and finally your specific work related experience. Put it all together and if you could work for any type of organization with an ideal boss what would it be? Large company or small, close or looser supervision, perhaps working for yourself; all should be considered.

What you are doing is to develop a list of possible employers to target and what benefits you bring to the job. If the future still looks a bit fuzzy go back and review a list of your accomplishments.

What specifically did you do to achieve your successes? What obstacles did you overcome? How did you develop a series of options and why did you pick the one that solved the problem? Did you have to secure the cooperation of others? Were negotiating skills involved? Were there any personal qualities involved in helping you generate your achievements? Did you work on a team? Did you have to motivate others? How did you achieve the overall results?

Have you had personal success in your life? What skills were involved? Do you have the financial resources to make the career change? If not what do you have to do to make it happen?

This exercise will help you focus on your career change. What type of job is appealing based on your interests and abilities? Are there any gaps in skills that you need to close? Added education, distance learning, specific experience all should be considered.

Your challenge is to package your skills and experience so that an employer can easily see how you would be successful in your new planned career. Carefully study the needs of the employer and list those skills that are common characteristics with your experience and skills.

With this focused approach, the recession and the wealth of job candidates should not be critical factors holding you back in successfully executing your career change plan.

John Groth has changed careers seven times during his working life. Learn more about changing careers, job search strategies and career planning at http://careersafter50.com. Discover how others over age 50, built winning career plans and found the right careers by effective job hunting and career planning after 50.