Career orientation: gender differences and age dynamics

Introduction. Emphasizes the motivating function of the career orientation of the individual. Two vectors of career construction («career upwards» and «career deep into») are considered. The description of the four career orientations is provided: management, entrepreneurship, creation, mastery. It notes the impact of social factors on the development and formation of the career orientation of the individual. Organization and methods of research. A study conducted on a representative sample, covering the age range from 18 to 60 years. Influence of age and gender factors on career orientation is assessed using multivariate analysis of variance. For the diagnosis of career orientations used the author's questionnaire (CarO). Results and its discussion. The results of estimate of the influence of gender and age factors on the career orientation of the individual. Showed a downward trend in an orientation on construction a career with age, which manifests itself mainly to «vertical» vector of career development. It describes the specifics of age dynamics for separate career orientations. It is noted that the maximum distinctions between men and women are observed during the periods of active career building and there are no students and people over 50 years old. The results of the correlation analysis, which shows that the relationship of a career orientation with objective achievements in career detected only by specialists with experience of more than 7 years and not in the early stages of career development. It is shown that the students' career orientation poorly differentiated and overestimated compared to the specialists with work experience. Conclusions. It is emphasized the adaptive nature of age-related changes of career orientation and the influence of social factors on the reduction of motivation to build a career. The career orientation of the person is corrected in process of receiving professional experience, is sensitive to influences of the professional environment and is subject to gender and age restrictions. It is highlighted that the forecast of future career achievements on the basis of diagnostics of career orientations of students and young specialists is impossible, because the correlation of career orientation with the achievements of his career appears only specialists with the experience.