I am not writing this from a breadth of experience in airline employment, as indeed I'm a career changer too, doing it rather late in life but not preturbed.
I do agree with something that FANS says and that is:
it also depends hugely on you as a person and what you've been doing for the last 10 + years.
If you have a wealth of management / executive / professional experinence under your belt and you change career, I would believe you would have a far better crack at getting your foot in the door than someone who has been working in a pub for the last 10 years and decided to go for it.
There are an awful lot of people on this forum moaning about not getting a flying job but you never know what their suitability for employment is beyond their frozen ATPL.