«SOFT SKILLS» ФАХІВЦІВ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА: З'ЯСУВАННЯ ЗМІСТУ ТА ОЦІНЮВАННЯ РІВНЯ ПРОЯВУ

The paper covers the results of developments in the application of a competency-based approach in HR management of current enterprises. The need to resolve urgent issues regarding the "soft skills" of specialists is argued. Based on the results of a detailed analysis of the achievements of scientists and practitioners worldwide, it was found that currently urgent problematic issues of HR management remain unresolved in their entirety, requiring further study and resolution, such as the need for: first, clarifying the definition of "soft skills"; second, scientific substantiation and selection of the most effective assessment method; third, developing effective tools for assessing the level of flexible skills manifestation and their testing. The main goal of the paper is to justify the choice of the optimal method for assessing the level of"soft skills"  manifestation for enterprise specialists, to develop an approach to assessing flexible skills with a specified toolkit and to test it. Based on disclosing essential features for "soft skills"of the economic category, their definition has been clarified as a set of versatile properties (qualities, traits, characteristics, abilities, knowledge, skills, etc.) of a specialist with predominantly social orientation, used in most industries and specialties due to their own universality, which allow more effective use of professional (specialized, technical) competencies and achieve professional progress. A review and thorough analysis of widely known methods for assessing the "soft" skills of specialists has been carried out, the choice of the optimal one among them - the 360° method - has been argued. The approach to assessing the level of soft skills manifestation for specialists has been improved, reflected as an ordered sequence of stages to perform necessary actions, which, in contrast to the existing ones, is based on the application of the 360° method and contains specially developed tools to enable its practical implementation. A questionnaire for the participants of the assessment group was designed, which includes relevant statements for the most accurate and unbiased determination of the level on which manifestation of specialists’ flexible skills happens, an assessment scale, recommendations for determining the general level of social skills development for an average employee, etc. The outlined achievements are the foundation for conducting further scientific research, in particular focused on scientific and methodological recommendations for the development of specialists’ "soft skills".