People looking to gain favor with potential employers have to “be aware of their identities. People do look at you,” says Kimmel, 24, a candidate for an MBA in business computer information systems at Hofstra University in Hempstead. In a nutshell, that’s the latest development in career management: managing your professional reputation, or identity, online. A key component, certainly, is avoiding or cleaning up any digital dirt remaining from one of your more impulsive moments. But increasingly, managing your online identity means being proactive: developing your own online brand, just as businesses do.

The practice of creating personal career-related Web site portfolios and blogs highlighting scholastic and work accomplishments is catching on fast as students and professionals aim to catch the attention of prospective employers — in a good way.

The online expansion of the traditional resume is taking a variety of forms, including the revamping of MySpace pages to make them more professional and the creation of short videos posted to sites like YouTube, with URL links included in an online job application.