Professional test as a tool of career guidance work

Importance. Career guidance is one of the leading areas of activity in modern universities for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is related to ensuring the recruitment of a contingent of students. Secondly, universities are the leading actors providing conscious self-determination of pupil, uniting all interested parties (parents, schools, employers), are the central link in the chain “school– university–employer”.Research methods. Based on the theoretical analysis of special literature, systematization of relevant practices of career guidance work with pupil, as well as the experience of Derzhavin Tambov State University on professional self-determination of schoolchildren, the main problem areas in career guidance interaction “school–university–employer” are identified.Results and Discussion. The identified problem areas of career guidance work that universities have to solve include the following: the unification of all stakeholders (schools, parents, employers, public authorities, etc.); the systematization of career guidance interaction with schools; the development of the actual content of career guidance work; the definition of the most effective formats for the implementation of career guidance development and implementation of measures for early career guidance (for example, the formats “children’s university”, “university of discoveries”, etc.).Conclusion. An effective format of career guidance work is a professional test. This is a practiceoriented format that allows you to model a specific type of professional activity, as a result of which students get acquainted with the professional sphere, and then make an informed choice of the professional sphere. Since 2016 at Derzhavin Tambov State University is offered more than 30 professional trial programs that provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the areas of training and specialties implemented at the university (“Lawyer in state bodies”, “Teacher”, “Know yourself and others”, “Modern PR man”, “Military scouting”, etc.).