Organizational and methodological support of career development centers for graduates in higher educational institutions of the Republic of Belarus

Graduate Career Development Centers (GCDC) act as a link between educational institutions, graduates and employers by providing employment services. These centers contribute to the effective graduates’ employment and help shape their image in the labor market. They also create conditions for lifelong learning. Nowadays, not all educational institutions of the Republic of Belarus have GCDCs (typically, they operate within higher educational institutions), and their functionality is largely limited to organizing placement of graduates. At the same time, practice shows, that young people need support, as the main problems of youth employment include the following: a lack of work experience; a shortage of indemand soft skills (effective thinking, discipline, leadership and team management, communication skills) and employability skills (resume writing, communication with employers, self-presentation, etc.); tightening of employers' requirements for young job seekers (work experience, education, skills); and a skills mismatch in the youth labor market in the Republic of Belarus. These challenges determine the relevance of the topic and confirm the need to develop organizational and methodological support for GCDCs. The purpose of the study is to develop organizational and methodological support for GCDCs in higher educational institutions, including goals, objectives, principles and functions, as well as offering practical recommendations for the implementation of digital technologies in their work. The object of the study is the GCDCs of higher educational institutions in the Republic of Belarus. The article substantiates the need to establish unified organizational and methodological support for GCDCs in Belarus, including goals, tasks, principles and functions of their work; the work of GCDCs (alumni associations, career departments) of higher educational institutions in the Republic of Belarus were analyzed and the problems of their functioning were systematized; practical recommendations for the integration of modern IT solutions and online platforms into the work of GCDCs were proposed.