Using the Skills Audit Method outside Labour Offices

Below we present additional contexts in which the Skills Audit Method can be used.

Using the Skills Audit Method with youth in school

Primary school students in 7 and 8 grade and secondary school students are faced with making choices about their future educational and professional paths.

The Skills Audit Method can be used to support them in clarifying their interests, identifying their strengths and areas that need additional work. This will help them to define their goals and make informed decisions about further education or entering the labour market.

In such cases, the role of the counsellor is to:

help students to define their educational and professional goals or to make them more realistic (e.g., by comparing their ideas about a certain type of work with information about employers’ expectations)
identify strengths, talents and the potential of young people
advise on the types of work in which they can use their competences
support them in planning activities that will make it possible to achieve their planned goals – first of all in choosing the appropriate educational path (this can be done, among others, by proposing various ways of acquiring the necessary competences).

Using the audit in working with youth can also take place during lessons with the school guidance counsellor. The main aim of such lessons is to raise students’ awareness of the idea of lifelong learning. In this context, it is important to combine a diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses with information about the labour market (including overcoming stereotypes, providing information about various industries) and to show learning as a process that takes place not only in school.

You can use group work. When working with young people, it is worth identifying the types of tasks and situations in which these people feel good and which motivate them to act.

When diagnosing competences, using conversation (interviews) is very helpful. You can also:

use assessments made by people in the student’s environment (360-degree assessment)
create situations in which the young people will be able to demonstrate their competences (e.g., role playing)

When working with youth, you can also:

show them the possibilities offered by thinking about goals and, in this context, show them what the skills audit can be used for and how they can use it themselves in the future
refer to situations in their lives and community
prepare assignments relating to the diagnosed competences, e.g., “teach grandma how to use a computer” and present this as a “mission” or “challenge” instead of “homework”
use visualisations (e.g., lifeline) and materials rich in images and diagrams
make them aware of the path to their desired goal (this is the function of a development plan)

An important factor in working with minors is the involvement of their parents. They must give permission for their children to work with the counsellor. They can also participate in the process itself. They will benefit from the knowledge gained by doing so, as the results of the audit will make it easier for them to support and advise their children in making future decisions.

Conducting an audit with young people requires several meetings. On average, there will be 4 to 6 meetings, depending on how the work goes, as well as on how many things the students can do on their own or with support.

It is good to keep to a fixed and relatively unchanged meeting schedule, but allow for flexibility in terms of the form of the meetings and tools used.

When determining the duration of the entire process, you can add time for meetings with parents after completing the skills audit (to discuss the results together) or before it starts (to present the method and then possibly taking time to decide on whether the child will work with the counsellor). The whole process can take about 2 months.

There should be approximately 2-week breaks between meetings. This will allow the students to complete simple tasks on their own and give them time for reflection. Nothing prevents them from doing some of the work at home. However, the results should be discussed during the meeting.

Using the Skills Audit Method in higher education

The Skills Audit Method can help define the knowledge, skills, and social competence a person has, as well as describe them in the language of learning outcomes.

The skills audit can be used in the process of confirming learning outcomes (an alternative path of gaining entry to higher education for persons with professional experience).

A university staff member can use biographical and behavioural interviews to determine the competences of an applicant. This is particularly useful for persons who have acquired a large part of their knowledge and skills in the workplace.

Making a list of competences allows students to compare them with the learning outcomes of a given study programme.

As part of the audit, a university applicant can also prepare a portfolio with evidence of the required learning outcomes (with the support of a university staff member or by using the “My Portfolio” online tool made available by IBE PIB). This can facilitate a committee’s decision about admitting the person to the university. Moreover, if the decision is positive, selected subjects or their modules can be recognised as completed, and a number of ECTS credits can be awarded towards the degree. An additional advantage in this case is that the process is documented without the need to use additional forms.

The skills audit can be used by counsellors in academic career bureaus in their work with university students and graduates.

In this case, a particular advantage of using the skills audit is preparing a portfolio, which can be used when applying for different jobs, as well as in making a development plan.

Doing a skills audit with students may require several meetings. It is advisable to keep a fixed and relatively unchanged schedule, but to allow flexibility with regard to the form of the meetings and the tools used.

You can consider using the skills audit with persons who have just entered university to help them prepare a development plan while they are studying.

Using the Skills Audit Method for employee recruitment

The skills audit can be used during external and internal job recruitment.

To make optimal use of the Skills Audit Method, employers should describe the knowledge, skills, and social competences required for the given job position.

The written application phase:

The candidate does a skills audit in relation to the requirements specified in the job advertisement. This allows them to indicate in their application which requirements they meet or which competences they have. If they prepared a portfolio, they can provide evidence of specific knowledge and skills (e.g., diplomas, description of experiences, descriptions of successes, situations, tasks performed).

The oral recruitment phase:

The recruiter assesses the candidate during the job interview. The assessment may be based on the results of the audit (described, for example, in the CV) or the portfolio presented in the written application phase.

In addition to the interview, the recruiter may use tests, simulations, the Assessment Centre, and other tools used in HR.

The summary phase:

At this point, feedback can be given to the candidate. It is useful to include the basis for offering the job to the candidate or rejecting them (with reference to the specific, required competences).

The results of a skills audit can be used as a starting point to define a company’s training needs.

The use of the skills audit does not significantly extend the recruitment process. It allows the recruiter to focus on the actual knowledge, skills and social competences of the job candidate, instead of on their education and professional history.

Using the Skills Audit Method in the validation of learning outcomes

Validation is confirming that a person applying for a particular qualification (diploma or certificate) has the required knowledge, skills, and social competences. How and where the learning took place does not matter. Validation in Poland takes place in three stages: the identification, documentation, and assessment of learning outcomes.

A skills audit can be the first step in the validation process. It allows the knowledge, skills and social competences of a validation candidate to be identified. It also allows evidence of these competences to be gathered.

Figure 5. Stages of validation and how the skills audit fits into this process

Knowing whether the competences identified in the audit correspond to those required for the qualification allows the client to decide whether they should proceed with the process of validation.

Using SAM