  A nuclear excitation following the capture of an electron in an empty orbital
has been recently observed for the first time. So far, the evaluation of the
cross section of the process has been carried out widely using the assumption
that the ion is in its electronic ground state prior to the capture. We show
that by lifting this restriction new capture channels emerge resulting in a
boost of various orders of magnitude to the electron capture resonance
strength. The present study also suggests the possibility to externally select
the capture channels by means of vortex electron beams.
