I was not quite in the same position to yourself N747EX, I have a frozen ATPL - low hours finished about 2 years ago. I had one interview and passed for regional carrier but job never materialised unfortunately. Did not agree morally with P2F and not willing to put myself in more debt therefore slowly but surely followed my head and not my heart and applied for non flying jobs. I now work in finance in London. I have an economics degree so was lucky in that case, but hardest aspect of getting a non flying job was catering my CV so that it was not flight orientated but relevant to what I was applying for (as all my history was pretty much flying). Also getting round the question, ‘would you go back to being a pilot if offered a job tomorrow.’ Pilots generally have stable personalities and good with numbers, high attention to detail these are excellent points when applying.
Having pilot history or training on your CV is a good ice breaker to get seen through the myriad of applications for non flying jobs but basically it all comes down to experience. A degree is helpful especially considering current employment opportunities across EU.
In retrospect I am happy with my decision to look at other jobs that were not aviation jobs due to stability, personal life, money and the good hours! However, I never lose the ability to look up in the sky and see someone fly by and think that could have been me. To answer your question directly you can change industry but it all depends on circumstances – age, experience, type of industry wanting to go into, qualifications needed, wages decrease until established.
Good luck all the best.
