Professional career readiness of university students in Ukraine

Abstract

In the process of high-quality training of specialists with higher education, an important part is to ensure a smooth transition of the university graduate to the workplace. In the conditions of the labor market and competition, it is not an easy task, requiring the student to have the appropriate knowledge and skills. Assistance in this task should be provided by university career services. To increase their efficiency, it is important to understand what the final result of such services performance is and how to achieve it. In international practice, this is the conception of student career readiness. In Ukraine, unfortunately, this approach has not yet found practical application. In this regard, the purpose of the work is to formulate the concept of career readiness for students of domestic universities, taking into account the features of our education system, as well as to develop a roadmap for achieving such readiness – a student career map. The work analyzes the activity of career centers of Ukrainian and American universities, a survey of students of different specialties and years of study is conducted, and a list of competencies of an university graduate ready to work in competitive conditions of the labor market, is suggested. The main stages of achievement of such a student's career readiness in the form of a roadmap are considered, as well as resources necessary for its realization. The introduction of this approach will allow systematizing the activity and improve the efficiency of university career services to assist in the placement of students. Consequently, enhancement of student career services performance will lead to further improving the quality of professional training of young specialists with higher education, and will facilitate their adaptation to the labor market.