In the market for a job? New services can make your online profile look squeaky clean!

Once upon a time, a resume was a piece of paper, a single sheet that listed the applicant's qualifications, contact information, and references. It was short, it was controllable, and it was discreet.

Nowadays, however, the resume is only the beginning: Any employer worth his salt will conduct an extensive search of the online profile of every job applicant. Unless the applicant is careful, those pictures from Spring Break will inevitably surface, leading the prospective employer to ask whether he or she really wants to hire Cancun's Beer Bong Champion of 2007.

Of course, it's not all that hard to clear up most of your online profile. You start by simply pulling out all of the fun and incriminating pictures, movies, and testimonials from your Facebook and MySpace pages. Once you're done with that, go to all of your non-anonymous web pages and take down anything that would make your mother cringe. Finally, Google your name and make sure there's nothing else out there that you need to worry about. Clear out all the sites that you can access and see what you can do about the others.