Professional identity in the context of volunteering

The paper examines the role of volunteering in the development of students’ professional identity. By a case study of the involvement of different-year students from Kursk State Medical University in Phoenix Volunteer Project, the research substantiates the prospects for job-related volunteering in the context of the professional identity crisis at the student age. In the authors’ opinion, job-related volunteering provides students with the opportunity to reduce anxiety in the professional present and thus facilitates the experience of the professional identity crisis. In this context, job-related volunteering is an acceptable way for students to overcome the crisis. The authors believe that the engagement in job-related volunteering creates an enabling environment for self-fulfillment, self-improvement, and professional development of the student’s personality that ultimately contributes to the development of cultural and professional competence.