If you're a candidate with a blog, Facebook, MySpace or other such page, don't worry about the sky falling in and don't take down your pages. In fact, do the opposite. Optimize them by thinking about the keywords that employers will likely use when searching Google for candidates with your skill set. Put those keywords into titles and headings and bold them. Get other people to link to your pages by adding those keywords to their pages and then linking those keywords on their pages to your page. In short, market yourself through your blog and social networking pages.

But before you do any of that, be sure that all of your pages are consistent with the personal employment brand that you wish to convey. Do you want employers to think of you as a drunken party animal or as a high achiever who also enjoys the occasional party? For most of us, the best employers are not those who want to hire the most pious people. Instead, they recognize that we all have personal lives and that those of us who enjoy the occasional party are also the most likely to be outgoing, friendly, and able to quickly create meaningful, positive relationships with clients, vendors, and other stakeholders.

So don't attempt to wipe out all traces of your personal life from the Internet. Instead, clean it up so that it is consistent with the personal brand that you wish to convey to potential employers as they use blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking sites as part of their background checking process. Also, don't try to hide those pages from potential employers. Instead, optimize the pages to maximize the number of visits from those employers.