What is skills audit?

A key piece of information an organisation needs to know is what skills and knowledge its people have. This information is essential for a number of reasons:

  • It determines whether the organisation can meet its goals.
  • Without this information the organisation doesn’t know where to improve.
  • Training and development will be better targeted.
  • Recruiting needs are better defined and more likely to result in the most appropriate candidate.

Skills audit is a process that can be used to identify the skill gaps in an organisation. The outcome is a training needs analysis that identifies where training is needed.

Skills audit diagram

So a skills audit results in:

  • An understanding of the skills required and gaps the organisation currently has.
  • A targeted analysis of development needs.
  • A listing of people who need development.
  • Data that can be used for purposes such as internal selection.
  • Information that can be used for dynamic succession planning.

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