Extracurricular activities of a student as a factor in the formation of career prospects (based on the materials of a sociological study in Barnaul)

The article examines the extracurricular activities of a student as a factor in the formation of career prospects. The key features of extracurricular activities of modern students in their connection with the phenomenon of professional development and career prospects are revealed. Different types and forms of extracurricular activities are also considered, as well as their impact on the professional socialization of an individual. The question is raised about those general cultural and professional competencies that are fundamentalized in the process of implementing extracurricular activities, determining the formation of career prospects. The data obtained during the sociological research allowed us to characterize, on a subjective and objective level, the relationship between the extracurricular activities of an individual and the process of forming his career prospects. The sample consisted of 313 respondents, of whom 300 were participants in the questionnaire, and 13 were experts participating in in–depth interviews. The methodological basis of this work is represented by a combination of T. Parsons' structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. The methodology of sociological research was based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, with the qualitative method represented by an expert survey in the form of an in-depth interview, and the quantitative method represented by a massive face-to-face and online survey of representatives of modern students. The data obtained made it possible not only to characterize extracurricular activities as a factor in shaping career prospects, but also to formulate full-fledged recommendations aimed at improving extracurricular activities for the professional and personal socialization of a modern student. Extracurricular activities in a modern university are an important component of an individual's social adaptation to the university environment, as well as one of the most important determinants of choosing a future professional development path. Further research in this area is necessary, because, on the one hand, the study of extracurricular activities as a factor in shaping career prospects requires the search for a universal methodological approach with sufficient extrapolation potential. On the other hand, it makes sense to conduct similar studies in other regions of our country, identifying the specific and universal characteristics of extracurricular activities as a factor in shaping career prospects.