Remember when having a job didn’t seem like a big deal? Think back a couple of years. Most everybody who wanted a job had one. So chitchat at the Saturday soccer game was about getting a reservation at the latest restaurant, securing a home equity loan or debating which Real Housewife was most loathsome—not about layoffs, unemployment and foreclosures.

Today, with the unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent, many working moms are waking up to the reality that they must reinvent themselves to score a new job. An intimidating idea for sure, but experts say that opting for a career change these days can make the difference between barely eking out a living and thriving. Here’s how to make a switch.

Discover Your Transferable Skills
A good place to start is by asking yourself what matters most to you in your life, says Michael Bednarski, a New York City–based psychologist and job coach. He calls this performing a values assessment. When he was in his late twenties, he asked himself that very question. “I realized I wanted to be creative, I liked working with people, and I valued financial security,” he says. Homing in on the values he most prized helped him decide to return to school so he could switch careers from musician to psychologist. “At any point in your career,” he says, “reconnecting to your core values can help you redirect your career.” Bednarski also believes that most people have far more transferable skills than they realize. “Think about what you’re really good at,” he suggests. “Do you have people skills, analytic skills? Then take a look at how those skills translate into other environments.”

Tap into Growth Sectors
To see where your skills might be best put to use, scan the fastest-growing job categories. As most industries find their footing in this slowly rebounding economy, some are actually booming and, more importantly, hiring. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act and a growing population over age 50, the medical profession is set to expand, says Laurence Shatkin, author of 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs. And as the financial crisis and the BP oil spill reawaken Americans to the importance of oversight, the field of regulatory compliance, both in government and the private sector, is also growing. The outlook is good for technology companies, too, particularly telecommunications—there will always be a demand for the latest gadget or killer app.

When considering potential industries, Shatkin recommends looking at jobs where the essential functions cannot be performed overseas—from tree surgeon to cabdriver—as well as jobs that involve creativity and innovation rather than rote tasks that could be programmed into a computer. One such field: adult education for retired baby boomers. “Retirees are doing a lot of personal-fulfillment education—classes where they learn scrapbooking or yoga—so there’s a need for workers to do that,” he says.

The greatest number of new jobs in this decade will be found in healthcare-related professions, including registered nurses, home health aides (nursing and psychiatric) and personal-care aides, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those with good people skills could be well poised to find their next job in these booming fields: customer service reps, retail sales managers and post-secondary teachers. If you enjoy working with computers, take note that network systems and data communications analysts, those who design, test and evaluate data communications systems, will be in great demand. Another booming profession: athletic trainers who are able to prevent, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate bone and muscle illnesses and injuries—not to be confused with personal trainers, who work with people to help them become fit. Athletic trainers usually have a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and most states require certification.

Read More: Ace Your Next Interview

Leverage Your Experience
Of course, changing careers doesn’t necessarily mean enrolling in nursing school or studying retail sales management. In fact, M.J. Ryan, a career coach and author of AdaptAbility: How to Survive Change You Didn’t Ask For, discourages her clients from switching to something completely new, since that frequently involves racking up educational debt and accepting salaries fit for 23-year-olds. Instead, she recommends leveraging the skills and experience you already have. “You want to build a bridge from where you are to where you want to go,” she says.

This could be as simple as providing the same job function to a new industry. For example, if you lost your job at a marketing firm, look into providing those services to hospitals, physical therapists or insurance companies. Accountants, managers and salespeople also have a place on most businesses’ staff rosters.

If you need to change your actual job title, Ryan suggests accessing the tasks you already perform—negotiating, researching, event planning—and the skills behind them. Then brainstorm about how they can be applied in other capacities. For example, she knows several journalists who now write position papers and Web copy for nonprofit organizations. Many executive assistants whose positions were gradually usurped by technology (voicemail, word processing and such) are finding new careers as professional organizers. “Think about what these tasks are in a broader way than just the label,” says Ryan.

Spin Your Resume
Traditionally, resumes have been lists of past employers, job titles and functions performed at those jobs. Alexandra Levit, author of New Job, New You, says that a skills-based resume could be a better choice for people switching careers. “The tendency of employers is to disregard the resume when it doesn’t exactly match what they usually think of as an effective hire,” she says. “So you have to do that work for them.”

For example, if you want to convince a prospective employer that your retail store experience would make you a great customer relations manager, create a functional resume that highlights the skills you employed as you appeased irate customers and developed programs that brought traffic into the store. For samples, check out resources like quintcareers.com and theladders.com.

Promote Your New Brand
Of course, even the most impressive resume won’t get you very far if you don’t have contacts in your targeted industry. That’s why Levit joined a local chapter of a corporate-training organization when she was breaking into that field. “I was able to meet people with several years of experience in this industry, and they gave me valuable advice and job leads,” she says. Networking, which offers you opportunities to talk with people in the field you’re targeting, can be an invaluable strategy.

It’s also important to have an online presence. Levit recommends creating a website that showcases your experience, as well as joining online platforms like Squidoo that enable you to publish articles in your area of expertise. “It’s a great way to get in the door as an industry expert,” she says. Not quite so ambitious? Post your resume on LinkedIn, along with recommendations from colleagues. To ensure that your profile pops up on employers’ job searches, insert the proper keywords into your resume; you can find them by looking at online job postings. Other social media sites can also help you hook up with your next career. Try changing your Facebook status to announce the job you want. Browse job openings tweeted by companies at tweetmyjobs.com. Register with twellow.com to follow others in your field of interest. Also, try search .twitter.com to look for specific job postings. More companies are supplementing traditional recruitment methods by using social media sites. Consulting giant Accenture, for example, plans to recruit 50,000 people this year, with 40 percent sourced through social media and websites such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Job coaches recommend making the most of social media sites to give yourself every competitive advantage.

Levit’s favorite Twitter strategy: Respond to the tweets of high-ranking executives. “You can actually get a conversation going. It’s not true of everyone—some people have 600,000 followers, but the majority of high-profile executives have about 2,000, which is very manageable. So it’s a way to have access to people you could never meet in the offline world.” Now that’s something to chirp about.

Hunting Online
We know you’ve become a regular on CareerBuilder, Monster, even Craigslist. Here are some lesser-known search tools:

SimplyHired.com compiles listings from thousands of sites, making it easier for job hunters to streamline. You can even apply filters like “mom-friendly companies.”

Beyond.com organizes channels by city and industry—no relocating required. Becomed.com should be your next stop if the hunt becomes an online blur. It can help you stay organized, tracking where you’ve searched and the resumes you’ve sent.

USAJobs.gov can help you score a gig with the federal government. Websites of companies you’d like to work for can be excellent sources; search their job boards.

Illustration by Cybéle.