Karamushka T. Social and psychological factors of formation of readiness PhD students to engage in professional careers.

The thesis deals with the socio-psychological factors in the formation of PhD students' readiness for professional career making. The paper discusses the scientific approaches to the problem of professional career, its role in the life of the individual. The author analyzes the psychological characteristics of PhD students as a professional group, the stages and types of PhD students' professional career as well as the structure, main components of and socio-psychological factors in PhD students' readiness for career making. It has been found that PhD students' career making readiness is insufficiently developed and its levels are influenced by the social and psychological characteristics of the relevant university departments (the features of role distribution and professional communication, the organizational culture type and creativity of the professional environment). A majority of PhD students have been shown to need various forms of social and psychological support, in particular a special socio-psychological training, during their career making training. The author has designed and tested a socio-psychological training called "Formation of post-graduate students' readiness for professional career making" that has been shown to increase the levels of PhD students' readiness for professional career making.