Valstybės tarnautojų atrankos socialinis aspektas

The paper “The social aspect of the selection of civil servants” fills in the gap in a certain sphere of scientific works on social administration. The problems of shaping of the professional competence of civil servants that are analyzed in the paper were never ever investigated before. They are even more urgent now when Lithuania is a fully entitled member of the European Union and the civil service doesn’t confirm to the expectations of the society so often. The paper consists of two parts – theoretical and practical. In the first part of this paper the most important spheres of the professional competence of civil servants, preconditions of its shaping and the specification of the selection to the post of a civil servant is discussed in detail. Present Lithuanian legal acts; the works of Lithuanian, European and USA scientists’ are analyzed comprehensively in this work as well as the concepts of professionalism, qualification and competence. As it is seen from the given examples, those concepts are not defined in the same way now- slightly different issues are raised. In this aspect it makes the characteristics of a civil servant quite indefinite. Taking into account that most often the requirement for professionalism is usually connected with special preparation, it is suggested that at least in scientific literature it would be purposeful to describe a civil servant as a person, who acts in civil service and has got an adequate preparation to fulfill certain activities connected with public administration. The concept of qualification is investigated and the attention is paid to the fact that it is usually linked not only with an obligatory intelligence, but also with the experience of practical work and skills. Talking about the concept of competence and its requirements’ components the conclusion is made that civil servant should be able to choose such methods of action, which would make the conditions to use their qualifications in practice. The aiming of their skills in different situations can be called competence. The problems of the training of civil servants in the existing situation are also discussed in the paper. The nowadays-educational system in Lithuania pays very little attention to the academic programs of a civil servant, the organization of civil servants training in colleges and universities is poor, the conditions for civil servants to study all the time are insufficient. The great importance of civil servants self-education for their professional competence and work quality is also emphasized in the paper. A huge gap between theory and practice in academic programs is indicated as one of more important shortcomings in civil servants’ preparation. In order to decrease the gap, more attention should be paid to the practical works of the students in higher education establishments and to the theoretical enlightenment of civil servants. The present order of admission to civil service and the requirements held by legal acts are discussed in the work. The essence of common requirements is analyzed a bit deeper – one should be a citizen of Lithuania, know the Lithuanian language, be no younger than 18 and no older than 62 and a half years old, have an appropriate education, common points in legal acts in the sphere in Lithuania and some other foreign countries are also shown. It is also discussed in detail what are the conditions when a person could not become a civil servant. The data of an empiric research is given in the practical part of the paper. The point was to make it clear what is the attitude of the very civil servants: to their own motivation, the need to improve their special skills, qualification, the image of a civil servant, the impact of the quality of work on civil service. The thesis stated in the practical part of the paper is grounded by the answers of forty civil servants who work in public police defense’s departments. The most important issues are the professional competence of a civil servant, the ways of its improvement, the quality of work of a civil servant, the prestige of an institution and of the whole governmental service and the point that they are closely interdependent concepts.