The concept of sustainable development involves maintaining the stability of social systems through the development of human capital. The formation of values and universal skills of the youth population is an important component of human capital. The article studies the problem of the universal readiness of school leavers for academic activity and professional labor that is expressed by the degree of formation of value orientations, which are the basis for non-specialized soft skills. The level of development of soft skills of senior high school students in modern comprehensive schools, that ensures the behavioral characteristics of self-organization and work ethics, depends on the values they share, which were studied using the survey method. The randomized survey of senior high school students in Rostov region (N = 4037, 59.3% of girls), carried out in 2019, was aimed at identification of the elements of social collectivism - social egoism in the minds of young people and normative - deviant components of behavior motivation. The studied value orientations of young people were re-duced to social-cognitive elements and attitudes. The authors proceeded from the fact that evident social collectivism - social egoism is directly associated with manifestations of normative / deviant behavior. As a result of processing of the data obtained, a quantitative analysis and explication of the development of value orientations and soft skills in the field of work and organizational ethics of the modern contingent of secondary school students was represented, what made it possible to formulate the preferential directions of pedagogic work.