Catch 22 for the job seeker

 So I recently went through a set of interviews for an Educational establishment and also for a Legal firm. In both cases I was asked to prepare a 10 minute presentation on a topic, and in one case was recalled for a second interview.  In both cases I was very up-front about my previous experience and was happy to see that having not worked in the particular niche previously was no barrier to gaining an interview.  However, in both cases I was told afterwards that the role had gone to someone with previous experience that exactly matched the role.

So this has set me thinking about how an Information Professional with significant experience can make the leap from one sector to another.  We hear about transferable skills, but how realistic is the hope of crossing over from commercial to education, or from financial to legal roles?  I would be interested to hear from anyone who has made that transition, and how they gained the confidence of the employer, or how they gained the experience.