Professional Self-Presentation through Social Networks: What Do Employers Pay Attention to When Selecting Applicants

The scope of the research is business communication from the career-oriented student's perspective: how to profile oneself in order to meet HR's requirements. The course of the study is based on the inductive principle: from self-presentation of career-minded students on social networks to the strategic communication aiming personal brand building. The theme of professional self-presentation through social networks as a phenomenon of digitalization is addressed more thoroughly. While building a career-oriented image on VKontakte, applicants intercommunicate their specific personal brand to HR specialists via social networks profiles, therefore signaling theory is applied. The study is based on the methodology of mixed research, i.e. uses the exploratory sequential mixed methods design. The collection of qualitative data was carried out among HR representatives from small and medium-sized businesses. When the flash-symbols were identified, an instrument for parsing user data from the thematic student community on VKontakte was developed. Based on the funnel principle, it allows filtering out those applicants, who does not meet specific HRs' requirements. Thus, as a part of present business study, the communication through social network among students, i.e. career-oriented candidates, and HR specialists, i.e. representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, was analyzed. The paper is of great help to career-minded students who are building their personal brand on VKontakte social network. Especially, it has important implications for both academics and practitioners involved in the recruitment process, as an instrument in Python programming language was proposed. This technical solution allows to automate a part of the HRs' duties and also has a great potential for the business community.