EMPLOYABILITY OF PROSPECTIVE SPECIALISTS AS A SET OF INTERNAL RESOURCES AND READINESS TO ENSURE THEIR OWN EMPLOYMENT IN CHANGING LABOUR MARKET CONDITIONS

Abstract

One of the key objectives of universities is to equip students as prospective specialists with the knowledge, skills, and competences required to secure employment in the future and to ensure that graduates continue to be employable throughout their lives, given that the conditions of modern living and the work environment are continuously changing. This study was carried out to analyse the complex nature of employability. The aim of the article is to substantiate the employability of university students as prospective specialists as a set of internal resources and their readiness to ensure their own employment in changing labour market conditions in order to set the foundation for the development of an assessment methodology to evaluate and develop the employability of students in the framework of university career guidance programmes. The authors attained the research findings presented in the article by applying the following research methods: theoretical research methods, which included desk study, review, analysis, and assessment of the scientific literature and various kinds of documents; and the empirical research method, which involved the reflection of the authors’ personal experiences. The theoretical study took place in several directions to provide justification that: 1) employability is a set of various internal resources; 2) employability is viewed as readiness to ensure one’s employment in changing labour market conditions; 3) readiness to ensure one’s employment in changing labour market conditions is closely related to readiness for career self-management, as it is a component of readiness for career self-management; 4) readiness to ensure one’s employment in changing labour market conditions, examining the structure and components (five sub-categories of readiness are identified); 5) the assessment methodology for assessing an individual’s readiness to ensure their own employment in changing labour market conditions, including certain criteria and corresponding indicators. The research findings allowed several significant conclusions to be formed. The concept of employability is defined as a set of internal resources, and the ability to ensure employment in continuously changing labour market conditions. The readiness of university students as prospective specialists to ensure employment in changing labour market conditions can be analysed and evaluated from the perspective of readiness for career self-management. The readiness of university students as prospective specialists to ensure their employment in changing labour market conditions comprises five structural parts: 1) readiness for independent professional activities; 2) readiness for career self-development, including job search and integration in the labour market; 3) readiness for change in changeable conditions; 4) readiness for entrepreneurship; and 5) readiness for lifelong and lifewide education. Each of these structural parts can be used as an assessment criterion, enabling the formulation of a number of assessment indicators. Each readiness criterion includes both a psychological and a functional or competence-based component. The results of the study can serve as a basis for the further development of assessment methodology to assess the employability of university students as prospective specialists, which includes assessing their readiness to ensure employment in changing labour market conditions.