Professional orientation of university applicants as a predictor of successful professional development

Abstract

Background. Numerous methods have been developed to guide schoolchildren toward career choice and professional education. However, empirical evidence for predictive validity of such methods is quite weak. This study specifies the case of university applicants (recent schoolchildren) profession choices. The author’s approach to identification of a professional orientation, developed in previous studies and based on the integrative-­typological classification of the world of work, is used. Objective. The aim is to check the relation between applicants’ professional orientation, requirements of the chosen professional activity with the success of professional development in the initial period of studying at university. Methods. We used the following methods: “Integrative-­typological professional orientation of the personality questionnaire”, “The scale of satisfaction with life”, “The scale of satisfaction with studies”, “The studies engagement questionnaire”, “Organizational and suborganizational identity questionnaire”. Sample. The sample involved 435 applicants who then entered the university and studied in the chosen field. Results. According to the subject matter of the chosen profession, four types of university education areas have been distinguished. These include integral, object-­related, human-­related and information-­related types. The criteria for the compliance of the professional orientation of university applicants with the requirements of these areas are formulated. While studying at university the applicants who met these requirements and became students showed higher indicators of professional development such as academic performance, organizational identity, involvement in studying, and satisfaction with it. Study results qualitatively correspond to the results of other studies revealing various indicators of professional orientation variability and their deterministic influence on some indicators of professional development. Conclusion. The study deduces four types of university education areas based on subjective work area (integral, object-related, human-­related and information-­related). Each type specifies requirements for applicant’s professional orientation. The correspondence between these requirements and applicant orientation turns out to be a predictor of professional development success, involvement in studying, satisfaction with it, organizational identity, and academic performance in the beginning of university education. More than 30% of the applicants who have become university students do not meet the requirements of the chosen professional activity and the university education direction.