Occupational choice and career/job satisfaction among young specialists

Background: Professional activity is an important component of self-realization. Career and job satisfaction contribute to greater productivity and a sense of success. The initial stage of professional self-determination is occupational choice. Therefore, it is important to understand how to choose a profession and experience a higher level of career and job satisfaction. Aim: the paper aims to study the parameters of occupational choice among young specialists associated with career and job satisfaction in the future. Materials and methods. The sample consisted of 48 respondents, both females and males, young specialists from various professional fields with work experience from 1 year to 3 years. The study was conducted by means of a structured interview followed by content analysis of the data obtained. Career and job satisfaction were studied through self-reporting of subjects. Statistical processing of the data was carried out using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient and the Mann-Whitney U-test in the SPSS Statistics program. Results. The parameters of occupational choice among young specialists were studied such as information saturation, emotional attractiveness, motives of choice, as well as their components. It was found that the “information saturation” parameter includes such elements as “information about the profession”, “knowledge of oneself”, “personal experience of acquaintance with the profession”. The “emotional attractiveness” parameter includes “professional interest” and “emotional attitude”. It was found that personal experience and emotional attractiveness are most closely associated with career and job satisfaction among young specialists. Reliance on motives from the “activity content” category is associated with greater career and job satisfaction, and reliance on motives from the “personal security” category is associated with less pronounced satisfaction in the future. Conclusion. Thus, it was possible to prove the relationship between occupational choice and the subsequent career and job satisfaction among young specialists.