The skill gap is real. In fact, according to PwC’s Talent Trends 2019, 79% of CEOs worldwide are concerned their teams lack the skills they need for the future. And PWC’s top takeaway from the survey was that people-related analytics must improve.
Data-driven skill assessments can offer the insights leaders need to address skill gaps in their workforce while remaining unbiased and accurate. Degreed’s new Skill Ratings and Skill Review features provide organizations the talent data around the skills their workforces have, which skills they need, and how those skills fit into the roles and opportunities within the business.
We now offer an expanded suite of skill assessment tools to empower our clients to effectively evaluate their teams’ skills — meaning they no longer have to rely on antiquated proxies, such as experience or education to infer skill level. Now managers can quickly and easily gather accurate skill assessments on their terms.
Getting Started with Skill Ratings
When companies can effectively quantify the skills in their workforce, this information can be used as the common thread between learning, talent, and people management strategies. This, however, requires standardized measurement techniques, which can be applied to a broad range of skills and produce results that are consistent and easy to understand. This strategy must also utilize tools that are cost-effective and inherently easy to use. These ideas are the foundation of our new skill rating system within Degreed.
Our clients have collected millions of self- and manager skill ratings through day-to-day use of Degreed for employee development. As users engage with Degreed, the system nudges them to rate themselves, setting a benchmark for the skills they have and those they want to develop. With that data, our platform can then help them create a plan, recommend relevant learning opportunities, and track their progress.
The number of new skill ratings generated on Degreed each week has grown by 275% since the start of 2019 — all without any additional learning programs, talent initiatives, or administrative involvement. Employees are taking the initiative and want their efforts recognized.
On an individual level, skill ratings make it possible to measure progress, create a quick benchmark, or build development plans. In aggregate, self- and manager ratings can identify skill trends across teams and inform hiring decisions. They were also created to be compatible with machine learning algorithms to make the Degreed platform even more intelligent.
But there are a few limitations with skill ratings. With an easy user interface and ample use-cases, this is a great everyday tool— but sometimes you want to dig deeper.
Going Deeper With Skill Reviews
That’s why Degreed offers Skill Review, an adaptive skill assessment that mitigates potential biases and can similarly be used for almost any skill. Developed with psychometricians, this adaptive online assessment poses a set of behavioral questions that seek evidence of skill level and can diagnose degrees of expertise.
For example, experts are more likely to evaluate several methodologies before solving a problem, they can more effectively anticipate the needs of various stakeholders, and they rely less on external guidance. People respond to Skill Review questions about their specific behaviors, and the system leverages advanced data science to calculate the most appropriate skill level based on a common rubric.
No system is perfect, of course. That said, Skill Review mitigates bias and increases the reliability of the data in two key ways:
- By asking a common set of behavioral questions, the system ensures the same set of criteria is used for each person. This removes any differences in interpretation of the rating scale and reduces reliance on stereotypes.
- Skill Review occasionally prompts users for real examples. Our user tests show that open response questions cause users to be more thoughtful and avoid over-inflating their responses.
To further bolster the signal strength of Skill Review, Degreed has released optional social validation to collect endorsements from colleagues.
Importing Third-party Skill Data
And we’re not stopping there– we are leveraging all the data you can offer, whether it comes from Degreed or not. There are already thousands of other, more traditional assessments on the market. So whether a client has skill data in a different system or has a collection of disparate surveys, quizzes, and credentials used throughout the business, Degreed is bringing it all together in one place. In much the same way we aggregate learning content, Degreed is now aggregating and integrating skill data from a range of third-party sources.
The Value of Skills Data: What Can’t Be Measured, Can’t be Managed
A critical piece of solving the skills gap is understanding what skills you already have. And there’s no better way to do that than through an adaptable set of assessments that seamlessly work together. By offering different levels of complexity and fidelity, Degreed provides consistent, repeatable assessments designed to meet all metric needs. Regardless of where the data comes from, we will help you make sense of it, connect it back to the learning experience, and integrate it into all of your talent decisions and processes.
Want to learn more about how our tools can work for you? Talk to a Degreed representative today to find out how to start identifying and closing your skill gaps.