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Conducting a skills gap analysis is something organizations should do regularly to stay competitive to candidates in today’s job market.
By identifying the gaps between the skills your team currently possesses and the desired skills necessary to achieve organizational goals, you’ll build effective training programs, recruitment strategies, and overall workforce development.
Start by learning more about the tech skills gap, then continue reading this article for a deeper dive. We provide a template to follow for future assessments and introduce the Hire-Train-Deploy model as a solution to address identified gaps within your teams’ skill sets.
Defining Skills Gap Analyses
Before diving into the analysis process, it's essential to understand what a skills gap is and why it matters.
A skills gap analysis involves comparing the technical skills your current employees currently have with the skills they need to perform their roles effectively. It helps you identify discrepancies between the skills your employees have and those your organization needs.
According to a 2023 report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 87% of HR professionals reported skills gaps in job applicants, with 46% saying the gap has increased compared to previous years.
This process helps organizations pinpoint areas to improve employee performance or where additional employee training is necessary. It can also illuminate where new hires with specific skills are required. The goal is to align your workforce's capabilities with your business objectives, ensuring that you have the right people with the right skills to drive success.
A study by Deloitte found that the skills gap could leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion.
Addressing skills gaps is crucial for improving company needs like organizational success and economic growth.
Why Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis?
1. Identify Training Needs: Understanding where your employees lack skills and require additional competency allows you to develop targeted development programs, like certifications and reskilling or upskilling opportunities.
2. Improve Recruitment: Identifying skills gaps helps refine job descriptions and recruitment strategies. You’ll have a competitive advantage in attracting candidates with the necessary skills to fill job roles.
3. Enhance Employee Development: Providing opportunities for employees to develop new skills can increase job satisfaction and retention, and give mentoring opportunities to those interested in helping their fellow team members learn important skills.
4. Boost Organizational Performance: Ensuring that individual employees have the right skills for their respective job functions improves productivity and contributes to achieving business goals.
The benefits to unearthing team skills and identifying those you don’t have are plentiful. But to really stand out from the crowd, keep reading on new, updated ways to conduct a proper skills gap analysis.
8 New Tactics for Your Next Skills Gap Analysis
Traditional methods of skills gap analyses often involve surveys and performance reviews. While these remain valuable, new approaches can provide deeper insights and engage employees more effectively. Here are some innovative techniques to consider:
Use Technology and Analytics
Leverage HR software and analytics tools to gather and analyze data on employee skills, performance, and training history. These tools can provide insights into current skills gaps, automate findings, and predict future needs based on industry trends.
Incorporate Employee Self-Assessments
Encourage employees to conduct self-assessments of their skills and identify areas where they feel they need improvement. Self-assessments can provide valuable insights and foster a culture of continuous learning.
Engage in Gamified, Scenario-Based Assessments
Gamification can make the skills assessment process more engaging and less intimidating for employees. Create interactive quizzes, simulations, or even virtual reality scenarios that test various skills in a fun, low-pressure environment.
This approach can yield more accurate results as employees are more likely to participate enthusiastically and demonstrate their true capabilities.
Implement 360-Degree Feedback
Gather feedback from various sources, including peers, managers, and direct reports, to get a comprehensive view of an employee’s skills. This holistic approach can reveal gaps that may not be apparent through traditional assessments.
Use project management tools to track and analyze performance data over time.
Conduct Job Task Analysis
Break down each role into specific tasks and identify the skills required to perform each task effectively. Compare this with the skills currently possessed by employees in those roles to identify gaps.
Use AI-Powered Skill Mapping
Leverage artificial intelligence to create automation for analyzing job descriptions, industry trends, and employee data to create comprehensive skill maps for various roles.
AI can help identify emerging skills that might not be obvious through traditional analysis methods.
According to a 2023 PwC report, 60% of executives believe AI will significantly change the way they do business in the next 3-5 years, making it a valuable tool for forward-thinking skills gap analysis.
Set Up Peer-to-Peer Skill Evaluations
Implement a system where employees assess each other's skills. This can provide a more holistic view of individual and team capabilities, as colleagues often have unique insights into each other's strengths and weaknesses. Ensure this process is structured and anonymous to encourage honest feedback.
Implement Cross-Functional Skill Shadowing
Encourage employees to shadow colleagues in different departments or roles. This not only helps identify skills gaps across the organization but also promotes cross-functional understanding and collaboration.
It can reveal unexpected skill synergies and gaps that might not be apparent in siloed assessments.
Your Free Skills Gap Analysis Template to Follow
Below is a simple template to guide you through the skills gap analysis process:
1. Define Business Goals: Clearly state the purpose of your skills gap analysis and identify specific goals (e.g., improving productivity, preparing for new technology adoption).
2. Identify Key Skills: List the current skills required to achieve these goals. This can include hard skills and soft skills. Research emerging skills in your industry, then consult with department leaders, stakeholders, and industry experts.
3. Assess Current Skills: Evaluate the current skill levels of your employees. Use methods such as surveys, performance reviews, self-assessments, and 360-degree feedback, as mentioned above. Compile and analyze the results to ladder back to internal metrics.
4. Compare and Identify Gaps:
Compare the required skills with the current skills to identify gaps, then prioritize the skills gaps based on their impact on business goals. Review your organization's strategic plans, analyze industry trends and technological advancements, and project the short-term and long-term skills necessary.
5. Develop an Action Plan:
Create a plan to address the prioritized skills gaps. This may include training programs, hiring new talent, or reassigning roles.
6. Implement the Plan: Create strategies for closing each identified gap. Consider options like training, hiring, or outsourcing (which we’ll expand on next), then regularly assess progress and adjust strategies as needed
7. Monitor and Evaluate: Continuously monitor progress and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken. Adjust the plan as needed.
Closing the Skills Gaps with Hire-Train-Deploy
Once you've identified skills gaps in your organization, the next challenge is addressing them effectively.
One powerful solution is the Hire-Train-Deploy model.
This approach combines strategic hiring, targeted training, and thoughtful deployment to efficiently close skills gaps and build a more capable workforce.
Here's how the Hire-Train-Deploy model works
Step 1 - Hire: Instead of searching for candidates who already possess all the required skills (which can be challenging and expensive), focus on hiring individuals with strong foundational skills and the potential to learn. Look for adaptability, problem-solving abilities, and a growth mindset.
Step 2 - Train: Invest in comprehensive training programs tailored to your organization's specific needs. Partners like HTD Talent build a fully immersive, full-time training curriculum designed specifically for your enterprise tech environment based on the skills you’ve identified are most necessary for your business.
Step 3 - Deploy: Strategically place newly trained employees in roles where they can immediately apply their new skills and continue to grow. This might involve creating new positions, restructuring teams, or implementing job rotation programs to maximize skill utilization across the organization.
The Hire-Train-Deploy model offers several advantages
- Cost-effective: It's often more affordable to train existing or new employees than to hire rare, highly skilled workers at a premium.
- Customized skill development: Training can be tailored to your organization's specific needs and culture.
- Improved employee retention: Investing in employee development increases loyalty and job satisfaction.
- Agility: This approach allows your organization to adapt quickly to changing skill requirements.
Implementing the Hire-Train-Deploy Model Internally
Partner with a solution like HTD Talent to ensure successful implementation of this model, or follow these steps:
1. Align with business strategy: Ensure your hiring and training efforts support long-term business goals.
2. Create a learning culture: Foster an environment that values continuous learning and skill development.
3. Leverage technology: Use learning management systems and AI-powered tools to personalize and track training progress.
4. Measure and adjust: Regularly assess the effectiveness of your Hire-Train-Deploy initiatives and make data-driven improvements.
Fill The Gaps in Your Team’s Skill Set with HTD
Conducting a skills gap analysis is essential for organizations to remain competitive and achieve their business objectives. Investing in skills gap analysis and targeted training not only boosts organizational performance but also enhances employee satisfaction and retention, creating a win-win scenario for both the company and its workforce.
The provided template can serve as a practical guide to conducting your next skills gap analysis.
Additionally, the Hire-Train-Deploy model offers an innovative and effective solution to closing identified skills gaps, ensuring your workforce is equipped to meet the challenges of the future.
At HTD Talent, we have combined decades of experience in closing the skills gap for Fortune-level organizations, budding startups, and organizations of all sizes and scales.
Click here to learn more about our services once you’ve conducted your latest skills gap analysis.
