We help you measure skills in HowNow! Here’s how we do it

Author:
Gary
PUBLISHED ON:
November 27, 2020
June 26, 2023
PUBLISHED IN:
Product Updates

Having the skills to pay the bills sounds great, but people often ignore the hard work that happens before getting to that glamorous end point. Before you’re anywhere near ‘bill-paying’ level, you’ve got to understand the skills you need, how proficient you are now and how you’ll measure progress on that journey.  

Companies often focus on whether training or learning is happening, so skill measurement becomes the missing, overlooked piece of the puzzle! Learning and training are only useful if they give people the skills to perform their role better. So, only measuring if they’re happening is like just caring that you’ve put the oven on, and not worrying about what comes out and when.

Our skills measurement and proficiency model is there to make sure your learning strategy is more Michelin Star than burnt disaster. Here’s how it works:

Adding skills and getting recommendations

You head to your HowNow profile, select the Skills tab and away you go! There’s a big green ‘Add Skill’ button, and after you click it you’ve got two options: search for the skills you know you have or want, or select the recommended skills below the search bar.

Add skills to the HowNow platform and get recommendations too

Those recommended skills are based on your job role, how do we know what those are? At HowNow, we capture and analyse more than 500,000 live job roles to understand the traits and in-demand talents related to positions like yours. The suggestions above are for a manager who hasn’t added any of these soft, people skills to their profile. So, these are a helpful reminder or might be suggestions they hadn’t even thought of – despite how simple they seem on the surface.  

Measuring skill proficiency and progress

Knowing which skills you need and your proficiency in them is how you can tailor your learning experience and work towards clear, tangible goals. So, each time you add a skill, you can set one of five proficiency levels, from Novice to Expert. In between, you’ll find Advanced Beginner, Competent and Proficient, in that order, with an explanation to help understand the level you’re at.

For example, here’s what you can expect to see if you think you’re competent in a skill.

What adding skills to HowNow looks like. Description of what makes a competent skill

But what if you’re wrong? Sometimes we’re our own worst critic and might be far too modest! To get a more well-rounded understanding, you can request an endorsement from your managers or team members. Clicking those three dots below also gives you the option to update your rating, for when all those learning and training activities have paid off. Next level, here you come!

How to ask for skills endorsements in HowNow

Want to see it all in action? No worries, we’ve got the skills for that! All you need to do is complete our demo form and we’ll be back in touch to show you around.