Mary Ellen Slayter has a few tips on what to do before and after you land that interview If you’re looking for a job, you should be mindful of who might be looking for you online. Many employers now routinely check out potential hires on social networking sites, for example. Here are a few tips from Yahoo’s Web Life Expert, Heather Cabot, on how to keep your digital persona clean:

• Keep tabs on yourself. Regularly search for your own name and email addresses.

• Be a picky joiner. “Membership in the ‘I heart beer pong!’ club doesn’t send the right signals to future employers,” Cabot says.

• Emphasise the positive. You can control what’s on your profiles and home page, so play up membership in professional groups and volunteer activities.

Now that you have got that interview call, here’s what you do next.

People often forget that a job interview is also their chance to quiz potential employers. And asking the right questions can be the difference between starting the perfect job — or a perfect nightmare. So, what should you ask? Here are some useful questions to ask at your next interview.

• Where is the last person who held this job? Obviously this won’t apply if it’s a new position; otherwise, the answer can be very revealing about the job’s career potential. Did the last person get promoted? Move to a competitor? A related question: how many people have held this job in the past five years?

• How flexible are the work hours? If there’s an official policy that supports telecommuting and alternate work hours, do workers take advantage of it?

• What do you enjoy most about working here? Part of the interviewer’s job is to enthusiastically sell you on the employer, so if they have any hesitation in answering this question, probe more deeply before accepting an offer there.

Sources: The Washington Post