The research discusses the problem of developing flexible skills in students, considered supra-professional, flexible competencies that lie outside the boundaries of a specific profession and are of great importance in any field of activity. Researchers agree that soft skills are particularly important and, in many ways, surpass hard skills in the path to success. On the one hand, specialists with complex and narrowly focused skills are valued. On the other hand, in the context of digitalization, new technologies are rapidly emerging that can master the functionality of professions in almost any field of activity and completely replace a living person in the workplace. The authors are confident that the formation of flexible skills occurs most optimally in the system of additional education due to mobility and the absence of strict requirements from state educational standards. The authors describe the results of experimental activities to develop flexible skills among students in the additional education system, which are the basis for successful employment in a dynamically changing world. The authors are confident that the issues of developing soft skills among students of educational institutions of additional education for children require further research and the introduction of methods for developing soft skills in the learning process in the system of additional education for children because mastering soft skills helps young people to be more successful in life and professional sphere, which, in turn, strengthens the socio-economic potential of Russia.