A Model for Skills Auditing

There are three key stages to a skills audit. The first is to determine what skills each employee require. The second stage is to determine which of the required skills each employee have. The third is to analyse the results and determine skills development needs. The outcome of the skills audit process is usually a training needs analysis, which will enable the organisation to target and provide information for purposes such as recruitment and selection, performance management and succession planning.

Determine skills requirements: In order to determine skills requirements, an organisation should identify current and future skills requirements per job. The result is a skills matrix with related competency definitions. Definitions can be allocated against various proficiency levels per job, such as basic, intermediate and complex.

Audit actual skills: The actual skills audit process is outlined below and involves an individual self-audit and skills audit. Results are collated into reporting documents that may include statistical graphs, qualitative reports and recommendations.

Determine development needs and plan for training/restructuring: Once skills audit information have been collected, an analysis of the results may be used for planning purposes relating to training and development and other Human Resource interventions. Recommendations are then discussed and agreed actions are implemented.