home Management Theory and practice of personnel management - Shchekin GV

Theory and practice of personnel management - Shchekin GV

6.1. Career guidance in the USA and Canada

In the United States, the organizational structure of the vocational guidance system is characterized by a high degree of decentralization. State bodies - the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Social Services - mainly carry out legislative and advisory activities, regulating financial issues in the field of vocational training at the federal level. The main role in coordinating and guiding career-oriented work and employment of young people is played by employment services, having departments of education at the level of individual states. Of great importance in organizing and conducting this work are various kinds of advice, associations of representatives of business circles, members of communal communities, etc. [1].

The basic practical work on vocational guidance among students is conducted by full-time professional consultants, working on conditions of full or part-time employment. The ratio of the number of vocational counselors and pupils in schools is approximately 1: 430, in some regions it ranges from 1: 1000 to 1: 200 (in private schools in the suburbs of large cities). In most schools, professional con-sultants have an education in the field of psychology and sociology or a diploma of a teacher.

Vocational guidance begins with the last grades of primary school through interviews to familiarize students with the "outside world". High school graduates complete the questionnaires to determine the preference for choosing a future profession. There are group or individual consultations, tests to determine the inclinations and abilities.

As a result of vocational guidance work, personal dossiers are drawn up, on the basis of which the graduates of schools are given professional recommendations. The career guidance file usually includes information about the family, academic performance, the results of medical examination, characteristics of the character, assessments of abilities and interests based on testing results. The subject teachers and class leaders actively participate in career-guidance work (mainly at the initial stages of the career counseling activities), help the professional advisers draw up a dossier for graduates.

In the United States, state and private employment agencies are components of the organizational structure of the career guidance system, which provide services for professional counseling, testing and other forms of career guidance for persons seeking help in employment, and also submit candidates for vacancies to entrepreneurs on a professional basis [1 ].

To conduct vocational guidance and job placement for young people, many employment agencies have departments for working with young people or provide for a professional adviser in the staffing table.

Employment agencies work through electronic banks that contain data on job vacancies in each state, a description of the main mass professions, as well as a daily list of vacancies. This information is printed in the agency's bulletins and is placed at the disposal of the professional advisers and those who need the agency's services.

As a concrete example, we can cite the Information System for a Professional Career pc. Oregon. The services of one of its subsystems - "Access to professional information" - can be used by any school student or state student looking for work for a relatively small fee ($ 2-3) to obtain data on issues of interest to him.

Notable development in the United States was the center for vocational guidance in schools and colleges. For a typical center of this kind is characterized by comprehensive equipment with professional diagnostic equipment and equipment, providing a wide range of career-oriented services, from career counseling and ending with professorship. In order to increase the efficiency of the centers, especially in the field of professional information, electronic computers are widely used, with the help of which the selection, dissemination and use of information is centralized and, importantly, its reliability and reliability are monitored on time and other parameters. This is accomplished by equipping the centers with terminal devices, combined communication channels with electronic data banks. Large centers use autonomous electronic data processing systems based on a mini-computer.

Usually, professional counselors in colleges combine profes- sional work with employment functions, carried out mainly by maintaining contacts with entrepreneurs and local public organizations.

In the US universities there are traditionally own professional career services, professional advisers and consultants who develop employment plans and conduct professional work; Constitute a card file of students, where individual career guidance characteristics are marked, and a file of entrepreneurs - potential employers; Determine the channels of contacts with them on issues related to hiring; Select candidates from among students who meet the requirements of specific jobs [1].

In a modern, increasingly diverse world of professions, when the requirements for workers change rapidly, and many of them repeatedly have to solve the problem of transition to a new field of activity, career guidance becomes a necessary link between a person, a vocational education system and an economy. When a person gets to "his" workplace, he himself wins, most fully realizing his personal potential, and society, getting the maximum return from the employee. If the choice is made incorrectly, then for the employee this means waste of time and money for acquiring an "unsuitable" specialty, difficulty in finding a job, and then in the process of work; Because of the multitude of such mistakes, society suffers losses from irrational spending of resources for vocational training, from a shortage of cadres of some specialties and an excess of others. Therefore, the ever-ongoing large-scale system of assistance to the population in choosing a profession, obtaining a specialty and finding a job is urgently needed.

Canada has an interesting experience in creating such a system. In recent years, new forms of vocational guidance have been introduced here (designed not only for young students, as it was before, but also for the adult audience), and its close relationship with other areas of state regulation of the training and use of labor is being established.

It became obvious that in modern conditions, secondary schools are not in a position to organize their professional orientation at their proper level only by themselves - to give young people an adequate idea of ​​all the variety of types of work activity, new professions, which of them are in the greatest demand and how it is possible Receive the necessary special training.

Intensive structural changes in the economy, widespread introduction of microprocessors and robotics, implementation of managerial innovations - all this required new approaches to the training process. In conditions when the "lifespan" of professions are significantly reduced, knowledge and skills quickly become obsolete, there is a need for a system that can help in choosing a profession, changing the sphere of activity, retraining, and more adapted to the needs of the most diverse categories of the population.

In this regard, in Canada, a new, multi-stage system of professional orientation, built on different principles than before, was created. Work with students begins in early adolescence, but does not close in the school and becomes more diverse in form. The center of gravity has been moved to institutions specially created for this purpose. Consultative assistance to adult workers has been greatly developed - it has been assigned one of the key roles in the process of adapting to the changing conditions of economic development [1].

The core of the reforms of primary vocational guidance in schools is the strengthening of its relationship with the real needs of the workforce. In large cities, the main attention is paid to the dissemination of computer literacy: in schools from the junior classes, training is introduced to work with personal computers, in the older ones - to the basics of programming.

In schools in small towns and rural areas, the structure of professional programs varies according to the recommendations of the regional labor committees, consisting of representatives of local authorities, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, managers of the largest local companies. One of the main tasks of the committees is to study the current and future demand for local workforce and management in accordance with this training process.

Important for choosing a future profession and preparing for an independent working life is the work of adolescents for hire during the summer holidays. Temporary work of schoolchildren from the age of 13-14 (according to sociological research, this age is the most favorable for the formation of general labor skills), regardless of family affluence, was a fairly common practice before. Recently, state bodies for labor have actively joined the organization of hiring schoolchildren. Information about the possibilities of the device for work can be obtained in the information departments of the centers of assistance to hiring (CSN). In Canada, there are more than 400 permanent centers of the nationwide public recruitment service, whose main task is to collect and disseminate information on vacancies and free labor, advise employees on hiring and vocational training, and advise entrepreneurs on various issues related to the use of workers Force.

But the main role in the employment of students during the summer holidays is played by temporary centers (from April to September) specially created for this purpose, whose staff - undergraduates and recent graduates of colleges and universities - undergo a short training course with the help of consultants from the CSN. They conclude contracts with various public and private organizations, agreeing on the timing, amount and payment of work (sometimes the payment is partially or fully funded from public funds allocated for special programs for youth employment in the summer). As a rule, we are talking about the improvement of streets, parks, sports and children's playgrounds, planting forests, etc. Senior pupils are also involved in looking after young children, helping staff in nursing homes and hospitals. When organizing the hiring of students, if possible, the level and profile of the training they have already received are taken into account [1].

With all the diversity of forms of vocational guidance, the most important form for the youth of the "world of professions" is becoming independent studies in specialized vocational guidance centers (their name can be roughly translated as "centers of choice"). This is a new, special type of institution that has automated information systems, video equipment, electronic examiners. They work mainly on the method of self-service. Having come to the "center of choice", young people (the age as a whole is not restricted) can receive information in the form of text on the display screen and a short film about 4 thousand professions. For each of them the following information is given: a) the content of the labor functions of the employee of the profession; B) the necessary personal qualities and the required level of general education; C) ways of professional growth and development of related specialties; D) the demand for workers of this profession in the local and national labor markets. Information on the latter issue is given great importance. Provided in the form of current estimates and biennial forecasts, such information helps to ensure that professional interests are determined taking into account the vital needs of the economy.

Having passed tests on professional fitness with the help of the same computer, the visitor of the "center of choice" can assess the degree of correspondence of his personal qualities, abilities and inclinations with what the work requires in this or that specialty. If, after this information, there is a need for advice from a consultant, they are referred to special departments of the hiring assistance service.

Currently, there are about 70 "selection centers" in Canada (that is, an average of about 200,000 people in the economically active population or 60,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24). Part of the "selection centers" is permanently located in the same place as the CSN, while others are temporarily moved to the territory of exhibitions and fairs, which are crowded in the summer months [1].

The creation of automated "selection centers" required considerable expenses, which is connected not only with the installation of video and computer equipment, but also with a thorough scientific and organizational preparation. For several years, a new "vocabulary of professions" was developed, commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Employment and Immigration, a new "vocabulary of professions" - not only in many names, but, most importantly, in accordance with the classification principle, which was formerly based on industry and vocational qualification, but now the content is based on Labor functions and the requirements for knowledge and skills of workers. Related, related specialties and possible employment options are also indicated, which is especially important in the context of an ever wider distribution of "cross-cutting" professions, that is, applied in various industries and industries.

In parallel, the so-called list of individual professional interests and inclinations was compiled, psychologists made changes and clarifications in the set of tests for assessing professional suitability.

As practice has shown, the high costs for automated "selection centers" have justified themselves. The widest range of represented professions, optimal in terms of volume and content, intelligibly stated information, in its own amusing forms of submission, high capacity of "selection centers" working on the self-service method - all this has raised the professional orientation to a qualitatively new level. The results of innovations are incomparable with those that were achieved before by attaching instructors to schools, the best of which could draw the attention of schoolchildren to only a small number of professions, and the worst - to turn lessons on career guidance into an empty formality.

The scale of activities for the vocational guidance of various groups of adults has significantly increased. This became necessary both for economic reasons and because of changes in the demographic situation. Dynamic shifts in the sectoral and technological structure of the economy, taking place at a slow pace of its growth, have led to a deepening of disparities between the demand for labor and its supply. On the one hand, unemployment has increased significantly, on the other - the number of vacancies has increased.

In terms of content, the professional orientation of adults differs markedly from activities designed primarily for students of young people: the percentage of psychological training is much higher. As practice has shown, most of those who have to sharply change the scope of activities or return to work after a long break, need help in the most accurate definition of their abilities, interests, problems. The results of retraining of adult workers are in the strongest dependence on the attitude to release from inertia habitual and on the perception of new knowledge and skills. With the solution of these problems, the development of the counseling service on the issues of choice of profession, retraining and employment is connected [1].

An important condition for expanding the advisory functions of the hiring assistance service was the introduction of automated systems for the collection, analysis and dissemination of information on free labor and vacancies. This made it possible, on the one hand, to achieve maximum savings in "living labor" in all cases where the clients of the Center can receive and assimilate the information they need independently. On the other hand, more employees were released for consultations.

The main "tool of labor" consultants - tests-surveys, which are being developed by a special research group at the Federal Ministry of Employment and Immigration. Tests, compiled taking into account the age, educational and other characteristics of different categories of clients, allow more quickly and accurately diagnose their problems, outline possible solutions.

For many clients, counseling ends with a brief briefing on where and how they should look for work. Остальные, нуждаясь в более интенсивной помощи, получают направление на участие в государственных программах, предназначенных для групп населения, которые испытывают особые сложности при устройстве на работу. Это молодые люди, не прошедшие полный курс обучения в школе, женщины, возвращающиеся к работе после длительного перерыва, представители национальных и этнических меньшинств (зачастую недавние иммигранты), инвалиды, бывшие заключенные. Несколько лет назад во всех провинциях были созданы комиссии по трудоустройству этих групп. В зависимости от конкретной группы предусмотрен тот или иной курс профессионального обучения и инструктажа по "технике трудоустройства", поскольку дело касается тех, кому особенно нелегко вести конкурентную борьбу за рабочие места. Частным компаниям, организующим производственную практику, государство выплачивает специальные субсидии. Наиболее способных практикантов затем нередко нанимают на весьма выгодных для работодателя условиях: получив постоянное место, такие люди стремятся его сохранить, трудятся с большой отдачей, не претендуя на высокую заработную плату [1].