NECESSARY COMPETENCES OF STUDENTS AND UNIVERSITY GRADUATES FOR SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYMENT

Since 2000, the focus of employers’ attention in recruiting personnel for a company has been gradually shifting from hard skills towards soft skills. The results of a study carried out by Harvard University and Stanford Research Institute show that the contribution of hard skills to the professional success of an employee accounts for only 15 %, while soft skills add up to the remaining 85 %. Today, it is not enough for a graduate to acquire special knowledge and expertise - they are required to have soft skills to succeed in a job search. The paper discusses the issue of transformation of the qualifying requirements to the job seekers claimed by employers when hiring personnel. The objective of the work is to identify the structure of the key skills and competencies of university students and graduates essential for their successful employment. The analysis of the requirements of employers to graduates of one of the universities was carried out in 2017-2021. The empirical base was a sociological survey of the heads of Russian companies on the issues of the important soft and hard skills of young specialists. The results of the analysis prove that the rapidly changing economic conditions affect the pool of soft skills that are significant in the labor market. The paper presents the structure of soft skills, describes the pool of important skills and competencies that encourage an employer’s decision to hire an inexperienced university graduate. Thus, the results of the study confirm the importance of the development of soft and hard skills of university students and graduates.

students, graduates, soft skills, labor market, employee