Target Characteristics of Creative Young Professionals in the Field of Science and Higher Education

The article deals with the problem of rejuvenation of the staff potential in scientific organizations and higher educational institutions through the selection and motivation of talented young specialists to build their career trajectory in the field of science, high technology and higher education. The authors provide a detailed description of the target characteristics necessary for successful work in a creative environment. Based on original methods and building on the basic provisions of the theory of motivational complex work activities and use of the MMPI diagnostic test, they define the reference variant personality, and motivational profile of the scientist and compare it with the real profiles of undergraduate and graduate students wishing or not wishing to continue their graduate education with subsequent employment in a higher school or scientific organization. By logical comparison of the reference and real profiles, the article came to the paradoxical conclusion that people who are predisposed to scientific activity do not have aspirations to enter graduate school. Those who are professionally unfit for scientific activity, on the contrary, tend towards graduate school. Based on the analysis of the causes of this situation, a number of proposals for improving the system of professional selection and motivation of talented young professionals are formulated and justified. They are mainly related to the development of diagnostic tests for career guidance and the use of the postdoctoral institute. The authors suggest that the implementation of these proposals will contribute to the rejuvenation and strengthening of the human resources of higher educational institutions and scientific organizations in the Russian Federation.