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Marty Perlmutter of the state Department of Labor’s Portland Career Center, rear, advises job seekers to create a resume that focuses on their successes.

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Barbara Babkirk, a career consultant at Heart at Work in Portland, says boomers should focus on what they are excited about when they look for a new job.

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Steve Schuit, who started a new position in December as executive director of the Institute for Civic Leadership in Portland, says job seekers should use a number of social networks when seeking a job. Here he is talking with university students in Haifa, Israel, in a previous career when he was a unversity professor.

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Lisa Fuller, who started two companies after a career as a Unum executive, said people should pursue their passions when seeking a new job.

If you're a baby boomer hoping to land a job, or even make the switch to a new career, here's one thing you might want to check out before you peruse the help-wanted ads and Internet job listings: the mirror.

Although experts have plenty of tips for middle-aged folks who are looking for work, one of the first things you should do is take a good look at yourself – literally.

Making the rounds in 20-year-old duds, or a hairdo that was all the rage when Ronald Reagan was president won't cut it, so start with a makeover. Ditch the big hair and padded shoulders, ladies. And guys, lose that ultra-wide necktie that you got as a gift from your ex back in 1985.

Some boomers "look older than they feel," which doesn't create the best impression, said Marty Perlmutter of the Portland Career Center, an arm of the state Department of Labor.

While updating your appearance has merit, a more substantive challenge is figuring out what you want to do next. Are you looking for a new job in the same field? A new career? Self-employment?

A recent study shows that personal values and priorities grow in importance with age, yet boomers who need a change often do not know what they want to do next, said career consultant Barbara Babkirk of Heart at Work in Portland.

They should "zero in on what it is they're excited about and engaged about," she said.

For some boomers, like Lisa Fuller, 54, of Portland, a former Unum executive, that meant starting two consecutive businesses, the newest of which is LifeStages, an elder-care company.

"Find your passion," Fuller said. "Believe in yourself. Work hard. And do your homework."

For others, the biggest step is finding a new employer rather than taking the entrepreneurial route. A career change may require going back to school, which is not unusual nowadays as workers reinvent themselves. Networking is useful as well, experts say.

"Go out of your way to put yourself in a social situation," whether it's with the local chamber of commerce, civic organizations or other groups, said Steve Schuit, 57, of Peaks Island, who started a new job as executive director of the nonprofit Institute for Civic Leadership in Portland last December.

Volunteering helps too, he said, particularly if it is "in a world where the skills align with your interests."

"People often underestimate the value" of using college alumni networks to line up new jobs, Babkirk said. "People land jobs because of the contacts they make."

Updating your resume is another key step.

Perlmutter said opinions vary on whether older workers should list all of their key dates or omit some of them, to deflect attention from their age. One option is to list how long you held a job, rather than when. Another is to lay out all pertinent dates.

Whichever approach you choose, Perlmutter said, it's important to be consistent.

"I think employers are looking for success, achievement and accomplishments," all of which increase with age, he said. A resume that focuses on your successes is more persuasive, he said, than one that offers a dry litany of previous job duties.

Babkirk recommends a "competency-based" resume that emphasizes skills rather than a chronological jobs list. But she suggests including employment dates as well. "Employers want to see when you worked, and where," she said.

Once you land an interview, Perlmutter said, go into it knowing what you have done and where you want to go. And don't hesitate to talk up situations in which you learned new things that were outside your comfort zone. That shows that you are flexible.

"People have to know their own story and really talk about the highlights of their story that got them to where they are and where they want to be," he said.

There's no turning back the clock, of course. Nor is there any denying that age discrimination exists in the workplace. But experts say...