Formation of students’ professional identity as a tool for intensifying labor capital: career guidance activities

The paper examines the phenomenon of professional identity as a tool for intensifying labor capital. Professional identity implies the orientation of an individual to the constant development of professional qualities, which over time provides the economy with highly qualified personnel. However, in modern Russian realities, many factors complicate the formation of professional identity, including those at the stage of acquiring higher professional education. The results of the sociological study of the state of professional identity of university students in Ufa revealed some problems in the formation of ideas about the profession (specialty) and the motivation for its choice. So, at the time of entering a university, young people often have a superficial idea of the chosen specialty, they do not have a process of professional determination. The motivation for the professional choice of students is equally rational and irrational, with every fourth student choosing a specialty under the influence of random factors. The study also showed that the role of the institution of secondary general education in the process of professional self-determination is not of prevailing importance, while in developed countries the school is the primary element of the vocational guidance system. Based on the analysis of the data presented, it is necessary to make managerial decisions in the field of career guidance in Russia, and measures of career guidance work with students at school are proposed.