Individual Technical Skills Gap Analysis – Why Is It Important?

Gears in a mountain that is split down the middle

August 6, 2020 | 3 minute read

Leveraging skills gap analysis, for cybersecurity risk solutions, is an increasingly important aspect of employment and continuing education, as a means to increase an individual’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.

By utilizing skills gap analysis tools, both individuals and employers gain insight to an individual’s capabilities, and more importantly, wield those insights to develop a training and educational plan that is mutually beneficial to the employee and the needs of the company. Having a training and educational plan in place may even prompt a company to pay for an employee’s college education, or college course and/or training through a specific technical training provider, to increase technical skills. In some cases, this means individuals acquire more skills through technical certifications. 

As an individual undergoing a skills gap analysis, you should look at the process from multiple angles. First, the intent of the skills gap analysis isn’t necessarily about looking at what you can’t do, but rather what you can do. A good company has your best interests in mind, and will plan to apply the results to a specific path you can pursue, that will help increase your technical knowledge over time. This is beneficial to both you and your employer. Second, a skills gap analysis helps you to understand your strengths and weaknesses in different ways. It is important to remain open to the feedback that you receive, because many people have a false sense of the reality of their capabilities. Getting a dose of reality is a good thing, and necessary for individual growth within your technical profession. If you have no desire to improve upon your existing capabilities, then it will be hard to advance within the technology industry. Finally, take some time to plan out the educational path that you should focus on. The plan should always include more time to execute than advertised, because life will throw you curve balls and things may be delayed. 

As an employer conducting a skills gap analysis, you should be considerate of the employee when measuring skills gaps. First, it’s always important to communicate and help manage expectations, by thoroughly explaining the purpose of why it is being done and the benefits to the employee. Second, take action with results promptly. As soon as you can, review the skills gap analysis with each employee individually and help them understand the results, so together you can establish a plan moving forward. Third, this plan should have tangible goals, that keep both you the employer, and the employee accountable. Having tangible goals will help both sides feel that sense of accomplishment, without distress from having set expectations too low, or too high. Ultimately, this will help to increase retention rates within your company.

A skills gap analysis is a necessary process for any organization to be able to grow technical knowledge. Growing the technical knowledge in your organization enables your team to become more proficient in what they do, and eventually manage the company infrastructure in a better manner. 

CyberKnights provides a skills gap analysis feature, that enables employers to take an inventory of their existing talent and measure them against the needs of the company. The key component of this process is to quickly identify gaps in knowledge, skills, and abilities, for which an employer can develop a training and/or educational plan. This process continues to evolve as employees gain more experiences and the company evolves in its needs over time. By implementing the power of CyberKnights in organizations across the U.S., companies are directly involved in the success of their employees and cybersecurity risk solutions.

 

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