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How to do a skills gap analysis
Most businesses will have to carry out a skills gap analysis sooner or later. The process identifies what skills the team already has, and which ones they need to move the business forward.
When should I do a skills gap analysis?
A skills gap analysis is an essential part of any business’ expansion process. Whether you’re expanding into a new area, or just need to work more efficiently so you can cope with a higher volume of clients, you need to establish what new skills your team needs to take you to the next level.
You might also do a skills gap analysis if your business is not achieving its goals. Maybe you need to bring in some different skills to bring your company to where it should be.
What skills do my team already have?
A competency assessment, also known as competency mapping, can be a good way of finding out what skills are already strong in your team. A bit like an appraisal, business owners can look at the competencies expected of existing team members, and see how well each team member performs against them.
A review of job descriptions can also be useful. Does each team member still carry out all the duties listed in the original job description? Has the role expanded because of the abilities of the employee? The reverse might also be true – the role might have the potential to expand but the employee’s current skill set is insufficient to achieve this.
What skills do we need?
To improve performance or expand your company, you may well have to bring in new skills. Perhaps you’re hoping to take on bigger clients, creating a need for an experienced account manager. Perhaps you need a sales manager to get you the bigger clients in the first place.
Business owners should examine the gap between the skills they have and the skills they need, then decide how best to bring those skills into the business.
Training and recruitment
In some cases, training an existing member of staff is enough to bridge the gap. You might have an employee who already enjoys sales - by sending them on a sales and marketing course, you could bring them up to the right level to be your new sales manager.
But this isn’t always the case. Often, skills gap analyses highlight the need for a completely new role within your company. The advantage of this is that you can hire someone with the specific skills you’ve identified, not to mention experience in a similar role. If you’re expanding into a new area, a new recruit with direct experience will bring much-needed knowledge to your business, helping the expansion to run more smoothly.
At Fusion Personnel, we’re experts on recruiting the right person for your business, whether you’re looking to replace an existing member of staff or creating a new role after a skills gap analysis. Give Gina and the team a call today on 01306 745 050.
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