THE ROLE OF SOFT SKILLS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE PATH OF PROFESSIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION OF ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

Introduction. Studies over the past ten years have convincingly shown that employers value not only professional competences but also additional knowledge and skills that are not usually taught in universities: creativity, responsibility, courtesy, and many others. Such competences are called soft skills. The purpose of the article is to consider the relevance of the topic of soft skills in the context of professional selfdetermination and potential identification of an adolescent in the labour market as a competitive unit. The relevance of this is also emphasised by the fact that soft skills can be considered as "a set of personal skills regardless of the field of activity" and as "personal competence to be flexible to a professional situation. It is also noted that the methodological basis of soft skills is emotional intelligence, since the need to develop "flexible competencies" implies the presence of goal setting, and therefore an understanding of oneself in the context of one's own life and desired status in society. The novelty of the work is determined by the analysis of the psychological characteristics of adolescence and the social conditions of their upbringing, which, on the one hand, are focused on professional self-determination, but by a number of indicators are not ready for this in the realities of modern society. In addition, the structure of a psychological and pedagogical programme for the development of emotional intelligence in adolescents is proposed, which is an effective tool that promotes the formation of readiness for career choice and the development of "soft" skills in the process of supporting the professional self-determination of secondary school students. Conclusions. In our opinion, the proposed material and psychological and pedagogical support in the form of an indicatively designed programme will raise the level of development of adolescent emotional intelligence, which will contribute to more constructive conflict resolution, interaction with different types of people, understanding and acceptance of individual personality traits; to the emergence of the ability to empathize and increase the level of the latter; to facilitate understanding of non-verbal communication and cause and effect factors in human behavior. All this will have a positive impact on the ability to adapt in real life in a team and becomes an effective potential and a reliable argument when entering the workforce.