5. Go pro bono. In 1999, Jan LaHayne, CIO and Global Leader of Customer Service for Littelfuse, moved from a career in the food industry to a whole new world of electronics. She recommends that once you've selected the industry of your dreams, you do some pro bono work in that industry to get some experience on your resume (and some contacts in your Rolodex). "Go to your industry's association and ask if there is something you can do for them," she suggests. "If I wanted to work for Microsoft, I would find out what nonprofits they support and do pro bono work for them. Now you're rubbing elbows with the right people. I'm doing that with the Brookfield Zoo," she says. "If I ever decide to go into nonprofit, I'll have the experience."

6. Highlight the similarities. Once you've found the industry, company and, most importantly, the CEO who will entertain your candidacy despite your lack of direct industry experience, you'll still need to manage your interview. When Mike Sebastian, who was directing IT for the San Diego Sheriff's Department, was on an interview at TD Industries, a construction company, he asked a series of questions about the outgoing CIO's interaction with the actual business of construction. "I learned during the interview that while its business may be construction, the company lives and dies by project management and remote connectivity," he says. "I was able to show them during the interview how important those skills are to the business and how relevant they were to my own background. In the end, I got the job."

7. Hire a number two from the industry. Aegis's Wayne Sadin suggests that once you've chosen your industry, managed the interview and landed the job, you look hard at the industry experience of your direct reports. "If I were moving to a new industry, I would make sure that my number two comes out of that industry, or I would bring someone with industry experience in," he says. "When two levels of IT don't know the industry, the discussions get pretty surreal."

To be clear, many companies want CIOs with industry experience and will not talk to you unless you have it. But there are plenty of cross-industry opportunities for CIOs who look carefully enough.

Martha Heller is the managing director of the IT Leadership Practice at the Z Resource Group, an executive recruiting firm based in Boston. She can be reached at mheller@zrgroup.com