With all the other important things a job seekers has to do, taking time out to Google oneself seems a low priority task, if not a downright waste of time. Unless…unless…you’ve had an active presence online. Got an old entry in a FaceBook? Or your own page on MySpace? Perhaps they were created when life was more, shall we say, carefree? Or maybe there’s a dusty old blog out there you’ve forgotten to take down on which you say some intemperate things about your past employer? According to CareerBuilder, a potential hiring manager could pick up on this online activity and deep six your candidacy. In a 2006 survey, CareerBuilder found that 26 percent of hiring managers said they used Internet search engines to research and screen candidates. And 51 percent of those decided not to make an offer after finding negative information about a candidate. What’s more, 63 percent of those decided not to go ahead with a hire due to what they saw on social networks. It was unclear from the survey whether this includes LinkedIn. What to do? Honesty is always the best policy, but discretion comes in a close second…as President Clinton found out the hard way. So take a moment to clean up your act online…and it could make all the difference down the line.