The Current State of Professional Self-Determination of Rural Youth

The article examines the process of youth professional self-determination in the framework of the resource approach, which, in the authors’ opinion, describes to a greater extent the function of increasing the value of human capital in the labor market. The study was carried out on the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan—the states that have successfully maintained trade-economic, humanitarian, and cultural ties for many years. This study presents general and specific expert assessments and a survey of youth aged 14 to 35. The main purpose is to trace how and when a professional image of the future is formed in a young person, what factors influence it, and at what stage of this process different resource centers provide the greatest support and influence. According to the survey results, it has been revealed that the rural youth of the two countries with a long history of cross-border and interregional cooperation is developing along similar trajectories. Digitalization has a great influence on the process of professional self-determination, with its characteristic elimination of territorial, social, economic, and national borders. However, the role of traditional resource centers such as the family and the state is still quite significant.