Online personal brand in the kazakhstani HR context

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to study the importance Kazakhstani HR specialists place on the competitive advantage of an online personal brand of a job candidate provides compared to a CV (Resume). The results showed that the majority of the respondents find the online personal brand of a job candidate valuable. It also influences HR specialists' preselection decisions. However, the CV (Resume) remains as a more informative source compared to an online personal brand. HR specialists rarely or occasionally do online screening. However, they always screen a candidate for top managerial positions. Negative/abusive language, sexually provocative pictures (risquè pictures) or videos, or controversial political, religious, or social opinion posted online might be a reason for disqualification. The research urged the need for implementing a more insightful source of behavioural information about a candidate.