Abstract
<jats:p>Public administration effectiveness is closely linked to the public evaluation of the civil servants’ work. Public trust in the executive authorities’ employees depends on the image characteristics of the latter, their socio-psychological competence, and people’s awareness about the measures taken to improve the quality of their lives. The aim of the study is to explore the profession perception by civil servants themselves and by specialists not involved in public service; to assess the impact of perceptions of competencies, personal qualities, and professional values of a civil servant on the trust level in the profession of civil servant among specialists in other fields. Hypotheses of the study state that awareness about the substantive characteristics of the profession, professional qualities, and values of a civil servant increases the trust level in the profession of a civil servant among specialists in other fields. In addition, lack of information about personal and professional qualities and values contributes to stereotyping perceptions, stigmatizing the profession of a civil servant in the perception of specialists not involved in public administration. The study involves 20 civil servants employed in various positions of the Tula Regional Government, aged 38-55, including: 18 women, 2 men, as well as 56 specialists not involved in public service, receiving or having higher education, aged 21-51, including: 53 women, 3 men. The research design assesses the profession perception by experienced civil servants using the focus group method with the SWOT analysis application. It is followed by generalizing and ranking the profession characteristics, as well as assessing the image of a civil servant by specialists not involved in public service using the method of studying trust in senior officials and executive authorities (Yunatskevich P.I., Chumakov N.A.). The paper confirms the assumption about the impact of public awareness of the substantive characteristics of the profession, professional qualities, and values of a civil servant on the trust level in officials. This feature should be taken into account when developing socio-psychological technologies for interacting with the public and shaping the image of civil servants.</jats:p>