Reasons for Skills Mapping

Employees offer skills that are complex to detect, and they are always evolving.
In this article, we explore how to set objectives for an optimal skills mapping strategy. 

We will also outline a framework you can adopt to optimize your investments.

Why is skill mapping an essential HR tool?

In a video, Cristel Guillain, Head of HR Transformation at Natixis, reveals that career mapping is a talent management tool that can drive ongoing conversations between employees and the administration. Knowledgeable HR professionals can use it to facilitate the continual assessment of individual and team performance. The analysis helps a lot in identifying hidden insights and potential risk factors in the workforce.<br>To increase their competencies, enterprises need to implement effective job and skill management strategies. Their application can benefit several organizational stakeholders like HR teams, the administration, and employees. Here are several advantages of skills mapping:

• For the HR function

1. Skills inventory is the most in-depth guide for HR teams to drive recruitment policies.
2. It streamlines training programs by enabling a dedicated approach to the most in-demand proficiencies.
3. Mapping helps career committees make reliable decisions on job changes and salary revaluations.
4. Outlining skills set enhances the identification of high potentials, and it improves succession planning.
5. Additionally, it allows HR teams to bridge skill gaps, maximize talent retention, and boost employee commitment.

• For managers

1. Representing capabilities improves performance measurement.
   
2. It can influence career development and training goals that optimize employees' ability to perform. 
3. Adapt performance and training objectives.
4. Firms may also use it to build loyalty by involving employees in exploring various career paths.
5. To add on, a firm's administration can use talent mapping to gain a visual representation of the existing workforce capacity

• For employees

1. Depicting know-hows lets employees discover the skill requirement for their current jobs.
2. It also enables them to collaborate with their managers and colleagues on learning essential skills.
3. Additionally, the technique may reveal career opportunities within the company through internal recruitment offers. Employees can leverage such offers to advance their abilities.

Cristel Guillain talks about the choice of Neobrain for her mapping of skills : access the video here :

We will also outline a framework you can adopt to optimize your investments.

What are the objectives for talent mapping?

• Mapping enables hr professionals to respond to rapid evolutions and transformations in the organization structure; for example, the case with the SNCF.
• It can facilitate the structuring of a strategic workforce planning approach like what Afpa did.
• Career pathing promotes the dynamic management of a company's talent pool. It also helps anticipate potential labor losses. Take for instance, the approach with Bosch.
• Additionally, it empowers employees and managers to upskill using an intuitive and sustainable career planning tool. Have a look at what Sage did.
• Talent analysis enhances internal mobility through better career management and implementing a talent marketplace. Take for example what Natixis.
• To add on, it assists in determining appropriate employee support and training practices, like in the case with Amicio.

Talent planning for organizational projects.

Career mapping requires an organization to assess workforce competencies and overall performance. The process entails collecting data on in-house talent and evaluating it to inform decision-making.

Who are the key players in skills mapping?

Human resource teams play an integral role in talent analysis. However, there are other parties involved in implementing the concept. They include:

• Managers: contribute to career mapping by listing all the skills available within the teams. They also use a scoring system to visualize employee performance at various levels.

• The job expert: provides the technical skills to perform a given set of essential tasks in a company, enabling it to achieve operational success.

• Project sponsors: provide guidance, resources, and support to facilitate a project. They may also assist in formulating recruitment frameworks and predicting future talent requirements.
  

• The HR function: manage HR information systems. They also organize training, career development, and partner sourcing.
• Business owners: ensure good practices when undertaking talent acquisition procedures. They can organize interviews and source reviews with technical experts, HR, and other relevant stakeholders to streamline supply chain pipelines.

Career Gateways and Internal Talent Marketplace

Asking employees to self-declare their professional strengths and weaknesses may not reveal their competencies. The article on "mapping: optimize your training budget" highlights various ways to make self-declarations fully reliable. For instance, professionals can self-declare their skills through business gateways and internal marketplace platforms.

• Gaps between expected and actual skills levels.
• Aptitude requirements that allow for advancement to other roles internally or externally.

Cette autodéclaration est insuffisante pour révéler le niveau réel de chacun, dans notre article “cartographie : optimisez votre budget de formation” nous traitons des moyens de rendre plus fiables les autodéclarations.

What are Career pathways?

Career pathways can assist companies in mobilizing internal talent from one function to another, optimizing productivity and internal mobility. Managers and HR teams can use mapping tools to identify technical competencies that cut across professions to ensure high-value recruitment.

Employees can also use career bridges to gain visibility into internal job openings they can aspire to. Plotting abilities will steer their trades and enable them to make objective job transitions based only on skill. As a result, it strengthens their commitment to maximizing their professional advancement.

To make mobility dynamic, internal job offers often highlight the skill requirement for a given position. The matrix helps filter internal applications to save time when conducting in-house recruitment.

Internal talent marketplace

Internal projects are the lifeblood of many companies. Having people with the right skills to carry them out contributes significantly to ensuring the sustainability of an organization. Arguably, such projects rarely require the use of external candidates.
Managers can use skill mapping as an internal talent marketplace tool to find competent in-house candidates to take up new roles in the workplace. The selection may be according to:

• Certifications
• Skill level
• Past performance
• Location
• Leadership capacity
• Current position

We will also outline a framework you can adopt to optimize your investments.

Update your mapping and avoid inflation of skills

• Overall, companies should evaluate and regularly update their talent competencies to improve productivity. Neobrain scans 60 million job offers every day to suggest competitive skills that you may choose to include in your portfolio.
• However, be careful to keep the skill list concise. Requesting too many aptitudes can diminish the recruitment value. A good skills checklist should not exceed 15 skills per jo