The Examination of the Factors Determining Career Engagement for Students Preparing for a Social Job

Abstract

Abstract The higher education courses for social experts started more than 25 years ago in Hungary. Since then more than 20 thousand students have earned a degree in social areas. Some of them quit their original jobs whereas a lot of these specialists still provide support as human assistants and regard their profession a career. Due to the huge amount of experience accumulated in both education and practice since then, in our empirical research an answer was sought to the question which personal and professional competencies determine the long-term engagement to a career and how the competency experience of the students correlates with their further career aspirations. In the research nearly 500 responses from students from 8 different Hungarian higher education institutions were analysed by applying questionnaires and tests accepted in international practice together with our own measures. Data were collected about the students’ career decision self-efficiency experiences, their personality traits and also about the question how they see their future profession. Based on our results the students who had a definite idea of their future professional career even during their studies and were determined with improved professional and personal competencies during the training made up a distinct group and were more dedicated to their career. On the basis of our analyses it was empirically proved that the training types which provide opportunities for the conscious monitoring of personal and professional competencies by encouraging the student with their career adjustment are of great significance.