The problem of career guidance of the youth in domestic pedagogical theory and practice

The most important mechanism for raising competitiveness in the labor market is career guidance which represents a set of special measures in the framework of professional self-determination and the choice of the optimal type of employment, achieving a balance between the professional interests of a person and the needs of the labor market. Career guidance is one of the main objectives of educational institutions of all types. It is combined with the preparation of young people for work in conditions of a market economy, the formation of appropriate motivations for work in the younger generation, conscious planning and choice of professional activity and form of employment, taking account of personal interests, health status, individual characteristics and inclinations of each person, and requirements of professions and the labor market. The problem of the study presented in the paper is that the labor market has contradictions in two aspects: the first one is self-determined personnel who is capable of finding a solution in non-standard situations, the second one is the lack of readiness among contemporary adolescents to build their own professional prospects. The purpose of the study is to uncover the specifics of the organization of career guidance activities with students in educational institutions. Object of the study is career guidance activities. Subject of the study is the specifics of organizing career guidance activity with students in educational institutions. The methods used in the study comprise theoretical and empirical methods: survey, observation, analysis of the literature, statistical analysis, test “Life-meaning orientations” (the technique of LMO). Based on the results of the study, the authors of the paper disclosed the concept of career guidance, its essence, approaches, directions; specifics of organizing career guidance activity with students; innovative methods and forms of career guidance have been described; a career guidance program for young people has been designed.