Development of Higher Education Seekers’ Soft Skills in the Context of Sociocultural Communication

Abstract

The article is devoted to the question of defining the role of soft skills in the successful professional growth of specialists in information, library and archival affairs in the sociocultural communication context. The purpose of the article is to define the role of higher education seeker’s soft skills in its professional growth and to offer effective forms and methods of their formation. The research methods are the methods of analysis and generalization of scientific and pedagogical, scientific and methodical literature, normative documents; the methods of synthesis and generalization used with the purpose of theoretical and practical substantiation of the presented forms and methods of soft skills formation for prospective specialists in information, library and archival affairs; the empirical methods, classification and systematization, used for summarizing observations and theoretical positions. The results. The importance of specialists’ soft skills as important components of their functional literacy in any field of activity is substantiated. Functional literacy is the individual’s ability to understand and expediently use the variety of information in new socio-economic conditions in order to carry out successful professional activities. The key components of functional literacy are identified as social behavior, knowledge of language and culture, mastery of modern technologies. The authors considered the essence of the leading feature of a competitive specialist, namely an emotional intellect, which includes perception (at first individuals must recognize their own emotions and be able to manage them), understanding (the ability to identify the causes of emergence of certain emotions), management (involves the ability to manage emotions, direct them for solving the tasks necessary for successful activities), and use (forms the creativity, individuality of a person). The main groups of soft skills are defined: basic communication soft skills; self-management; effective thinking; management skills and relevant general and professional competencies that form these skills in future professionals in information, library and archival affairs. The authors presented the methods necessary for forming soft skills for specialists in information, library and archival affairs and which had been applied in practical classes in special disciplines. Interactive methods, in particular work in pairs, business games, master-classes, case-technologies, trainings, videoconferences, project method, are believed to be productive. Conclusions. The authors concluded that the formation of soft skills is crucial in the professional growth of professionals; the offered forms and methods of soft skills formation are based on real life scenarios and the gained experience in the course of training that causes an effective sociocultural communication in the further professional activity.