Problems of social and psychological adaptation of university graduates to professional activities

Abstract

The study raised and considered the issues of social and psychological adaptation of university graduates to professional activities in the context of growing competition in the labor market and the increasing demands of employers for young professionals who are looking not just for candidates for vacant positions, but for employees who would have the ability to quickly immerse into a professional environment and selfrealization in it. In their conclusions, the authors rely on the empirical data obtained during the questionnaire and online survey, indicating that university graduates when entering the labor market are poorly adapted to the employment process, experience difficulties and discomfort when establishing interpersonal relationships in teams and processing a significant amount of professional information. In the model of the stage-by-stage implementation of education and training of a young specialist proposed by the authors, it is noted that the issues of socio-psychological adaptation are associated with the development of the graduate’s competence and require certain adaptation mechanisms. Given the fact that the adaptation process is dependent on the psychophysical properties of the graduate, the time of its implementation and can be repeated at a new place of work, the authors propose to consider it step by step, in relation to the levels of adaptation (adaptation, partial adaptation, full adaptation) and the criteria for achieving adaptation goals by defining the role of the mentor at each stage of the process. The authors believe that the role of mentoring is related to overcoming the social and psychological adaptation problems of graduates and is a mutually beneficial form of cooperation for the employer, mentor, and young specialist.