Skills Scan

An assessment of an individual's skills, knowledge and behaviours, as well as experience of a role / criteria, with this latter feature being especially relevant for a job role.

A skills scan includes capturing the current abilities of an individual to help identify strengths, areas for improvement and areas for where new learning can take place.

This can be used for a range of purposes, including:
• Helping an individual to decide if a potential qualification is right for them, being used to direct them to a more appropriate qualification where it isn't suitable, often with the help of an advisor.
• Helping advise on activities and training that might be considered to achieve a desired aim.
• A skills gap analysis.
• Assist a tutor, trainer or employer provide additional support, where required, which is over and above that which is normally provided within a learning or induction programme.
• Devising an induction programme to get a new employee ‘up to speed' for their new role.
• Forming part of a wider job / skills analysis to enable an employee to excel in all aspects of their role. A customised development programme can be devised to best meet the specific needs of the individual.
• Helping provide more informed guidance on career pathways.
• Being used to recognise prior learning which relates to specific criteria for a programme of learning towards a qualification, apprenticeship or fulfilment of a job role.
A skills scan is self-scored by an individual based on their own judgement, and it is accepted that this will often be relatively subjective but if completed in an honest and considered way provides a realistic representation of their abilities.

A job description can be used as a basis to develop a detailed skills scan, further enhancing the often essential and desirable criteria given for a role.

An outline for a grounds operative might include some of the following criteria, against which judgements are made by an employee. This could be used as part of an annual performance appraisal to help develop staff so that an employer is making the best use of their resources.

The judgements are typically scored / rated using simple descriptive terms (of which many will have definitions provided to help clarify their exact meaning, within the context of the skills scan, to an individual) such as:
• Limited or Non-existent / Adequate or Satisfactory / Comprehensive or Extensive / Don't know or unsure.
• Never or Rarely / Occasionally or Sometimes / Often or Regularly.
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, meaning No ability; Some ability; Competent (i.e. within previously exposed to conditions or situations); Capable (i.e. able to adapt to unforeseen or not previously experienced conditions or situations); Expert ability.
• Not applicable / Don't know or unsure / Needs significant improvement / Some improvement needed / Satisfactory ability / Enhanced ability / Outstanding ability.
• 1 (little or no knowledge / ability) / 2 (some knowledge and ability) / 3 (mostly satisfactory, with good knowledge and ability) / 4 (probably competent in most aspects of the criteria, although currency of knowledge / skills could do with updating) / 5 (fully competent in all aspects of the criteria).
• None / Some ability / Competent.
• Not very good / Satisfactory / Good / Outstanding.

Use terms which are meaningful to the criteria being scored, so this might mean using different terms for different sections of a detailed skills scan. The following are some example criteria which might be considered for an employee in the areas of knowledge, skills and behaviours, along with more generic employability skills criteria.

The more specific the criteria the more useful the skills scan might be, but this can create a large document for analysis and recommendations for improvements and new learning.