Remember going crazy at that party back in college (the one where you spent half the night without any pants), only to later discover that pictures of your drunken glory had found their way to the Internet? Well, guess what — the company you just applied to also found those pictures, and suddenly you’re no longer the hot prospect you once were. Foiled again by your online persona.

More and more employers and turning to online searches to dig up personal dirt on candidates. Information that wouldn’t necessarily find its way on a resume can now be easily unearthed after spending a few minutes with Google, and for some people, these new-age background checks can result in reneged offers or lack of consideration altogether.

In a recent survey of 100 executive recruiters, 35 percent said they dropped a job candidate because of information uncovered online. That is up from 26 percent just one year ago, according to ExecuNet, an executive job search and recruiting network.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they use search engines to learn more about prospective employees. Another study showed that 82 percent of executives expect companies and recruiters to enter their name into a search engine during the course of their next job search, yet only 33 percent have ever actually conducted an Internet search on themselves.

So if you’re looking for a new job, it’s time to clean up your act and get your online persona under control.

First things first, run your name through the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN). Take note of the sites that come up for your name, and where possible, clean up any pages under your control. And don’t forget to tidy up your Facebook and Myspace pages — those are typically gold mines of information for recruiters.

You won’t have control over the content on some sites, and thus you probably won’t be able to clean up your act everywhere. In that case, you can take charge by creating your own website. If you’re going to have your name online, you may as well have a page that counters everything else. If you have something to say, blogs are a great way to accomplish this; otherwise, a simple bio or resume page will work. And as a bonus, you can show your potential employer your web design skills!

In the midst of updating your resume, scheduling interviews, and writing thank you letters, it’s sometimes easy to forget the fact that the Internet holds a lot of your secrets. If you’re not careful, the people you don’t want seeing them will be the first to discover them. But by taking the time beforehand, you should be able to correct most potential problems, putting you ahead of the competition.

At least until you screw up during the interview. But we can’t help with that.