How to measure and validate skill level

Once you’ve identified the skills you need to improve, it’s time to understand where your workforce stands

On measuring skill level

The level of skill an individual has matters. While two employees may have taken time to learn a particular skill, getting a sense of the depth of their knowledge and expertise is crucial. This measure can guide your upskilling efforts and enable you to make decisions as you accompany current employees throughout their learning journey.As for reskilling, measurement shouldn’t be ignored either, as it can help you spot if a person is unable to move beyond their current skill set and might have to consider switching directions.To measure your team members’ skill level, analyze the following three key expertise indicators:

Certification: Certified courses prove a person’s competencies and show the exact level at which someone has mastered both the theoretical and practical basics required for a certain role, task, or job.

Qualifications: Formal education like a bachelor’s or master’s degree also demonstrates a degree of acquired knowledge in a certain subject area.

Experience: The best way of understanding where an employee stands is to look at their previous jobs. Specifically, you’re interested in how long and to what extent a person has worked with a tool or technology and what soft skills they had the chance to apply.

HR managers should start using data more for training. We should be looking at what employees are learning, volunteering and mentoring opportunities, and other reskilling and development sources outside of the LMS bubble […] to understand not just the current talent profile, but also what their career trajectory is and how we can help them get there.

Rebecca Wetteman, Principal at Valoir

On validating skills

Once you get a clear idea of what skills your team members have, you need to confirm whether they’re moving in the right direction. Validation of learning outcomes of both formal and informal learning remains a challenge.New trends in terms of education and individual learning are speeding up the skills acquisition and validation process. With free online learning and certified courses, employees can complete a training session and acquire new skills. Tests can also be used to regularly check on knowledge and see if your team is up-to-date with the latest changes in their industry.But an online exam whose answers are often leaked won’t ensure they’re keeping that information. So how do make sure they’ve really acquired that skill?By creating more opportunities for them to apply their newly acquired skills.If, together with them, you’ve selected the right skills to work on, this should be easy. The safest approach is to know what projects an employee will work on and recommend courses and certifications based on skills they’ll need regularly.

Employee self-validation vs. manager validation

Allowing individuals to monitor their learning progress and validate their own skills is a great way of keeping them accountable and confident. However, as managers, it’s important for you to check in with your team members at the end of a learning experience.

Discuss what they’ve learned, “test” out their new competencies, and validate the acquired new skills for yourself.

Where do you think your people turn to the most for learning

Online learning platforms (e.g. LinkedIn Learning)
Your organization’s learning management system (LMS)
In-person training
Peer-to-peer learning

Our solution

People need a place to show off their skills. That’s where the Cegid Talentsoft Talent Profile comes in to help employees showcase their expertise and training experience. Managers will then be able to analyze these profiles and match their talent to new projects based on skill requirements.

Create learning pathways to validate skills. Through the Cegid Talentsoft LMS, employees can access recommended content along with virtual classes. They can also keep track of their results and interact with trainers, so they can improve their learning process based on regular feedback.

Measure skills by evaluating employee performance. Cegid Talentsoft Performance gives you a holistic overview of individuals’ performance, needs, and skills. Managers can visually analyze mobility areas and skill gaps to help their teams evolve their careers and positively impact organizational results.