Employers are going online and rejecting job seekers after discovering secrets candidates thought only their friends knew.

But there are ways to use Facebook, MySpace and blogs to make a job application irresistible.

Hundreds of students are having their job-hunting hopes dashed because of their pages on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Why? Companies are googling candidates and finding a page with pictures from last Friday (remember that party?) and tales from friends on Facebook walls.

“That's not the sort of person I want to hire,” they say as they hit the delete button on the candidate’s resume.

Luckily, all this can be easily fixed. Indeed, you can use social media to put you ahead of other candidates.

Why Danger Lurks on Facebook

There’s a deadly cocktail going on: declining privacy thanks to the Internet is combined with employers who are getting quite savvy at Google.

“With all of these new technologies, a certain amount of our privacy is just not there anymore. We are at the point now where information about us is out there,” says Susan B. Barnes, Professor of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology and an expert on online social media.

The other part of the cocktail is made up of employers who are increasingly searching a candidate’s profile in online networking sites before making an offer. A 2006 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found 11% would do an online search.

Other studies say it’s a lot higher. After all,an employer would be missing a weapon if he or she failed to type a candidate’s name into Google, it’s that easy.

And the result of all this? Students are not getting hired. A survey by CareerBuilder found 63% of hiring managers have admitted to not hiring someone based on the information they found online.

Jennifer Kushell, president and co-founder of ysn.com and author of New York Times Bestseller Secrets of The Young and Successful, tells the story of a candidate who applied for work at her company.

A last-minute search found her blog, which blared out the tune Crazy Bitch and went into specific and explicit detail about what she thought about her “crazy”employer.

“It was mindblowing that a human being would talk about her employer that way, never mind post it online for all to see,” says Kushell.

Needless to say, that person wasn’t hired.

Employers are going online at all stages, says Roberta Matuson, president of Human Resource Solutions, which helps companies manage their employee needs. Companies search before they ask someone in for an interview or just before an offer is about to be made, so they can find out if there’s any information a candidate might not have divulged at interview.

How to Clean Up Your Profile

First, says Kushell, adjust your privacy settings. Facebook, for example, recently allowed profiles to be searched on Google – so make sure only your friends can view your page.

But that’s not enough — after all, do you know who all your online friends are? It’s been said some employers are using friend requests as a loophole to sneak up on job candidates online. The only real solution is not to put this stuff online in the first place.

Matuson says take down those pictures that aren’t going to show you in your best light.

“If an employer doesn’t want piercings, take them out of the page,” she says.

Pictures of you with family or doing hobbies are fine – just avoid anything risqué that will stress a baby boomer boss. After all, many older people who are doing the hiring don’t really get the whole Facebook thing. They’re easy freaked. Make sure your blog (and comments you make on other blogs) present the kind of image you would like to project.

Be a Social Media Expert

“Everyone needs to start looking at their reputation as a business professional even before they are professionals,” says Kushell.

“They have to build a persona and an identity in a totally new environment now, as an adult. And an adult identity as to be different from their childhood or even their young adult identity.”

It’s a candidate’s online identity that is becoming central to a successful job hunt in the era of Google-savvy bosses. And the good news is, you can really shine if you do it right.

Create a Resume with Personality

Your Facebook or MySpace page can still play a role in your job hunt. Barnes advises creating what she calls a “narrative resume” – instead of just a boring listing of your education and accomplishments, tell a story that relates the highlights of your resume.

For example: I worked at Starbucks for three months last summer and it was great meeting customers, but when school started again I had the chance to intern part-time at a small marketing company in the city. As marketing is what I really want to do, I jumped at that opportunity and spent a year with them, learning about….

A narrative like this shows personality and, most importantly, passion – things that don’t get the chance to shine in a traditional resume.

Build a Professional Online Persona

There are many sites that will allow candidates to showcase their skills and knowledge. Kushell’s own, ysn.com, aims to help people who are in the early stages of a career to create their professional identity.

“We actually give them a format or a template that helps them ask the right questions so they do look impressive and they put their best foot forward,” she says.

Alongside sites like ysn.com are blogs. Indeed, a blog done well is perhaps the key to making you stand out in the job market.

Kushell tells the story of a young woman in New York who was working as a makeup artist but was desperate to get into the fashion industry.

Kushell advised her to start a blog – after all, this person was a savvy shopper and knew the latest trends in advance of the fashion magazines.

Online Networking Tips

Networking has always been one of the top ways to get a job, and that’s even easier online. Sites such as LinkedIn and even MySpace and Facebook put industry figures within easy reach. Barnes gives an example for someone who wants to get into advertising.

“If you see somebody on Facebook who works in an advertising agency, you don’t go to them and say, ‘hey, can I have a job?’ You go to them and say, ‘hey, can you tell me about your job, can you give me some information?’ “You want them to get to know you and refer you to someone they know who has job.”

Facebook, MySpace and your blog needn’t be the Trojan Horses that wreck your job hunting, if you use them in the right way.

Says Kushell: “People really need to take control and ownership of their online identity and start building that in the real world as soon as possible.”