Alternative careers would generally involve going to back to a previous line of work (aviation was a career change for me many years ago anyway), or persue a new interest if the the immediacy of a paycheck was not important.
Talking to most now redundant pilots I know (airline-pax) they intent to get back into it when things pick up in the months or years ahead. The only variation is what they will spend that time doing, and that is a function of thier own financial security at this moment in time.