There are two things to focus on when looking for employment. The first is learning everything about the business prior to applying and interviewing. The other aspect is, well, everything else from polishing your resume to cleaning up your social networking sites.

Social networking sites have become the new resume with many human resource (HR) managers checking them before calling potential candidates. Should employers be reading your personal information such as your Facebook page, your Tumblr site, or even your Twitter (News - Alert) account? It depends, but something all potential employees should know is if you put it on the Internet it’s readily accessible and if you add it to your resume, expect it to be checked.

A new survey from CareerBuilder, showed that 37 percent of HR managers are using social networking sites to not only research potential candidates, but to help them make critical decisions during the hiring process. This trend of checking social networking sites of possible hirers is increasing, with CareerBuilder’s results showing that another 11 percent of those polled plan to begin checking social sites before making any new hires.

Moving forward, First Coast News reported that CareerBuilder found that many HR managers found problems with candidates during their initial searches. “About one-third of hiring managers who are using social networking sites to screen candidates say they didn’t hire someone because they found something online that raised an issue about the candidate. The most common red flags were inappropriate or provocative photos or information, or something about the candidate drinking or using drugs.”

The one thing that the CareerBuilder’s survey showed was that applicants must be careful with what they decide to put online. If you have a MySpace (News - Alert) or Facebook account, people you might not want to look at it might have access to it. The best thing to do initially is to make all of your social networking sites private. This way not only will strangers be locked out of all your personal information including status updates and pictures, but a prospective employer won’t be able to see it as well.

Another tip is to make sure you don’t list any personal blogs, websites, or social networking accounts unless they are relevant to the career field or position you are applying for and has the content checked by you ahead of time. The survey shows that by making these tiny adjustments you can avoid any hiring troubles.

Just make sure to keep on top of your online reputation, which might soon become more important than your resume.