In theory, now is the golden time for marketers and marketing-related specialists. The market is replete with loud promises and sales of courses for marketers through a tool for personal “success”.
“Look how cool I am. I got rich, now you can get rich too. I had one specific business success, and now I will teach you to repeat this business success in any niche.”
People go, fascinated by motivation in the form of golden mountains, but most often they get stuck at their point A. Most of the specialists (and high-level ones too!) remain working as “promotion girls for 10 thousand.”
The problem of personal self-realization in the professional sphere
The genesis of difficulties in personal self-realization in the professional sphere manifests itself at every stage of this process.
The stage of self-determination corresponds to high personality development. Consequently, a barrier in this situation may be the inability to determine one’s place in the system of social relations.
At the initial stage of professional development, the decisive role is played by the conformity or discrepancy between the expectations of the individual and the external conditions of life. If intrapersonal contradictions arise, dissatisfaction with the level of professional growth, self-development, this can lead to the search for new ways of performing professional activities or to a change in the type of activity.
During the transition from one stage of development to another, crises arise, on overcoming which the further prospect of self-realization depends. These processes can be caused by external circumstances - dismissal, retraining, graduation, etc., as well as internal psychological barriers.
The transition to the stage of professional growth may not take place, especially if the individual’s motive is “I want” rather than “I can” and “I must.”
At the stages of career development and growth, the following barriers most often arise, causing difficulties in professional self-realization:
- Incorrect positioning – inappropriate reaction in the process of communication with the team and when performing assigned tasks (excessive emotionality, resentment towards colleagues, rejection of constructive criticism, etc.)
- Lack of need and desire for self-development - the development of professional competencies requires constant self-education and self-improvement.
- Lack of resources – unsatisfactory emotional and physical state.
- Comparing yourself with more successful specialists leads to a decrease in self-esteem and a reluctance to strive for something.
- Unjustified expectations of recognition of one's achievements - lack of praise for work done leads to stagnation of actions.
- Lack of confidence in your professionalism - even with a high level of development in your field, you can be unsure of yourself.
- Incorrectly set priorities - personal matters are more important than work interests.
Professional self-realization of youth
In modern society, there is a tendency according to which young people can organize their own lives only after receiving higher education. But the problem is that many, for several years now, have been striving to become economists, lawyers, and managers. As a result, there was a shortage of specialists in other fields - in industry, in the service sector, construction, and the transport industry. This trend has led to the fact that university graduates cannot find employment in their specialty and are forced to look for a job that is not in their field.
As a result, youth unemployment or employment in specialties that do not require high qualifications became widespread. Every year, every fourth of all graduates is forced to undergo retraining to obtain a second profession. And some of them quit in the first year of work due to dissatisfaction with the nature of the work performed.
The period of formation of professional self-realization is very difficult for young people also because the career path begins with a failure to meet many of the requirements for a specialist. And as a result, graduates find themselves at the lower professional levels of the career ladder. To get out of stagnation, young people are forced to be more flexible and mobile professionally.
Thus, the difficulties of the formation stage are caused by the following reasons:
- lack of work reputation;
- lack or complete lack of experience in the profession;
- insufficient inclusion of young people in professional networks and, as a consequence, limited access to available vacancies;
- lack of competitiveness of young people due to lack of demand for the education received.
The existence of social risks determines the lack of competitiveness of young people. And the uncertainty of socio-professional identity leads to an increase in negative tendencies of professional self-realization.
Psychological factors of successful professional self-realization
The basis of professional self-realization are the following psychological factors of success:
- Personal qualities – optimism, impulsiveness, anxiety, lack of personal barriers to self-realization, etc.
- Characteristics of the reflexive plane of consciousness are freedom of choice, the significance of the psychological past.
- Financial well-being.
- Stable interpersonal relationships.
- Positive psycho-emotional attitude.
- Satisfaction with the results of the work.
- Tolerance to temporary difficulties.
- Having the ability to self-organize.
- Control and responsibility for the performance of duties.
Separately, it is worth mentioning professional burnout, which occurs as a result of negative psychological experiences associated with work, relationships in a team or the organization as a whole. A similar phenomenon is observed if one or more psychological factors of successful self-realization of an individual do not work.
Factors of personal and professional self-realization
You can read about the factors of personal self-realization in the article “Self-realization of the individual.” Undoubtedly, they also influence self-realization in professional activities.
In addition, acquired qualities are important for professional self-realization:
- determination;
- self confidence;
- initiative;
- determination;
- hard work;
- vital activity;
- energy.
That is, professional self-realization is possible only if a specialist constantly develops his abilities and skills and works on himself. For successful professional self-realization, self-development and self-improvement in one’s work activity is necessary.
Stages of professional self-realization of the individual
Professional self-realization does not happen all at once; it takes place in several stages. It is a mistake to believe that achieving set goals and developing the skills and qualities required in a given work activity is the path to labor self-realization.
Professional self-realization of an individual on his life path involves the following stages:
- Professional self-determination, which is expressed in the choice of type of work activity.
- Initial formation in the chosen field.
- Professional growth and development of professional competence.
Professional self-determination
The determination of an individual’s position in relation to socially significant values occurs during high school, college, or the first two years of university. At this stage, the “want” or “need” motive dominates. In the first case, self-determination occurs based on one’s own desires and needs, and in the second, according to the opinions of third parties or current life circumstances, social trends and priorities.
Initial formation in specialty
At this stage, the “I can” motive is activated, that is, real possibilities are assessed. And here the first difficulties may arise, which will ultimately lead to either adaptation or a change of specialty.
Professional growth
This stage involves developing the abilities necessary in a given professional environment, and adapting the specialty to suit oneself. Achieving this stage of self-realization indicates its high level, especially if the public recognizes the individual’s professional achievements.
Professional self-realization of men and women
Personal masculine and feminine qualities are reflected in the professional self-realization of men and women. What is the difference?
Firstly, gender affects the choice of profession:
- men – specialties related to mechanisms, tools, sports, science (especially physics, mathematics)
- women - activities related to the humanities, aesthetics, public relations, etc.
And in society, stereotypes have been steadily formed about which professions are “male” and which are “female.” It is undeniable that now both men are mastering women's professions, and women are mastering men's ones, but at the same time they have to face a kind of gender discrimination. That is, an employer is more likely to hire a woman as a hairdresser in a women's salon than a man, or a man as a taxi driver rather than a woman.
Secondly, the specificity of self-realization in professional activity is expressed in the fact that men and women also see their prospects for career growth differently.
- women - in most cases, work for money, to a lesser extent - because of the need to be in a team;
- men – what is important is the content of the work being performed, its social significance, diversity, the opportunity to demonstrate one’s abilities, and most importantly the result of the work.
Thirdly, the time for a professional career is also different.
As a rule, women’s professional self-realization occurs much later than men’s. As you know, most representatives of the stronger sex can boast of an established career by the age of 30, while for women this indicator can be realized closer to middle age.
This is influenced by the fact that women’s personal life remains a priority, and some employers are skeptical about the fair sex because of children, maternity leave, family concerns that absorb all thoughts, etc.
Fourthly, there are significantly fewer women managers at different levels of management than men. What is the reason for this, and what is the difference between men and women managers:
- Women managers are considered less competent.
- When selecting for a leadership position, women are subject to higher requirements than men.
- Having a family and children prevents women from achieving a high professional level.
- Women tend to use a democratic leadership style, while men tend to use an authoritarian leadership style.
- When making decisions, men are more inclined to analyze and plan the outcome of the case, while women are more mobile in changing circumstances.
- Women are able to offer more options for solving a problem than men.
It is advantageous to use differences in the professional self-realization of men and women for appointment to more suitable positions:
- male managers - to solve problems and manage a male team;
- women leaders - to establish interpersonal relationships in the field of education, civil service, and social sphere.
In general, we can say that both men and women are capable of achieving high professional results in their activities, but in different ways.
We examined the question of what professional self-realization is, its stages and factors of successful professional self-realization. We found out that there is a difference in self-realization by gender. We also touched upon the problems that are typical for this area and, in particular, the difficulties that young people face when finding employment.
