As we weed through the stack of resumes for the three open Groove Commerce positions, I Google each name and then check MySpace for a profile. If you are a jobseeker sending your resume into the world, be sure to Google yourself beforehand. With social networks like MySpace and Facebook, companies have easy access to discover who an applicant really is. Depending on your profile’s nature, you may consider temporarily cleaning it up while seeking employment.

The easiest way to prevent a potential employer seeing those MySpace pictures of spring break you spent drunk or a picture of you exhaling smoke from an illegal substance, is to set your profile as private. With Facebook, you can control which networks can view your page. Another important thing to remember are the pictures or obscene comments left on a friend’s profile. The easiest way to control this is to simply send them a private message asking they take the material down. You certainly don’t want a recruiter coming across a picture of you partaking in anything illegal, so be sure to remove anything of that nature.

If you write a public blog, be aware of previous posts that may mention anything illegal like “pot” or “steal.” Edit these types of words out of your blog and the material may be a little harder for recruiters to find. Keep in mind that you still want to be yourself. As a startup company, I find browsing an applicants blog a great way to find out interests and break the ice during the interview process. It also helps you to see accomplishments that may not go on the resume. Depending on the organization you are trying to impress, taking that picture from spring break down may not be necessary. Obviously, a large corporation has the right not to hire someone who likes to have fun. But smaller companies, especially those in start-up mode, will be less likely to cast you away for getting trashed and posting it on MySpace. In fact, they just may be looking for someone who knows how to ease the pain after a long work week with a tyrant boss cracking the whip .