Krista Bradford remembers the precise moment she first encountered ageism. She had worked as a television reporter and anchorwoman for more than two decades with top jobs in news magazines. She had just turned 40, she says, when she went to see an agent at William Morris. “He said to me, ‘Your age is now a factor.’ I didn’t have a wrinkle on my face. I had won more awards that year than ever. But it gave me a pause.”

What did she do? “I decided to write a new chapter.” She left TV and went to college to get a long-postponed degree. And she set up her own business, Bradford Research, which performs competitive intelligence research for startups and Fortune 500 companies. Building on her years of experience as an investigative journalist, she helps her clients locate and recruit senior executives and board members.

New leaf

Bradford used her experience to build a new career. “I was a closet geek even when I was working in TV,” she says. “I used computers and did research on the Internet. When I started my own business, I found those skills transferred.” She started her business as a research company that did candidate identification. “We would find people who appeared to be stellar candidates at a senior executive level, contact them to determine if they’re really worthy, then present them to the client.” Researching skills and familiarity with new technologies gave her new venture an edge.

Sell well

Experience is a selling point only if you let people know you have it, says Bradford. “The majority of search firms and recruitment companies now use the Internet as a research tool to identify candidates. So, if you speak at a conference or are quoted in an article that appears on the Net, or your biodata is on your company’s website — those are all beneficial for your advancement.”

Net savvy

“It’s less a matter of age and more a matter of whether you get the Internet,” she says. If you’re in a mature industry, lead Internet initiatives for your company. “We look for the firebrands who have understood the possibilities of what the Internet and technology mean for their companies. When I go into a non-tech company, I try to find where it intersects with the Internet and who is working at that intersection.”

Speed up

“Something I hear a lot from clients is, ‘Are they high-energy’?” says Bradford. “You have to keep your energy level up while talking to recruiters and interviewers. Fast talkers win. Think at Internet speed. Long pauses may very well undermine your presentation and eliminate you from consideration.”

Makeover

You don’t have to look 25, she says, but “I do think that, like TV personalities, executives in the Internet industries do think about presenting a youthful appearance. Trying to appear as young as possible is a natural reflex.” Bradford says she’s talked to people whose fears of ageism have them considering everything from dyeing their hair to more extreme measures like plastic surgery. If it gives you confidence, go for it, she says. You may want to get some advice on updating your look, but remember succeeding is “a matter of emotional and mental state, experience and leadership”.