Turn off your Twitter feed. Hide your Flickr photos. Remove your YouTube videos. And change your Facebook privacy settings (if you can figure out how).

With unemployment rates flying high, jobs are scarcer than ever, and applicants need every leg up they can get. What’s one overlooked way of improving your chances of getting hired, after rewriting your cover letter or buying a new suit? Stop using social media.

Today, employers are no longer just searching Google for information on applicants–they’re commissioning companies to do professional social media background checks. Posted some foul-mouthed tweets? Got pictures of yourself downing a beer bong in college? They may hurt your chances. Some 8% of companies have already fired social media miscreants.

Santa Barbara-based Social Intelligence Corp. is just one of the many companies that specializes in social media background checks of potential employees and active monitoring of existing employees. SIC scans the Internet for racy online activity and provocative photos unbecoming of an ideal job candidate. These new hiring standards are turning the job application process upside-down.

“I personally think we’re moving away from the one-page résumé,” explains CEO Max Drucker. “I think we’re moving toward where your online history is your résumé.”

Drucker says SIC only screens for user-generated “objectionable behavior” online, and that standards vary based on employer. Editors of High Times might be more lenient than, say, the HR department of the Wall Street Journal. The majority of the time, SIC takes screenshots of behavior that falls into the category of “poor judgment.” These screenshots are then shown to employers for review. Does it typically ruin the chances for a new hire? “Yes,” says Drucker. “The more risk-averse employers won’t even look at the pictures.”