76% of US employers say they’re struggling to fill roles due to a lack of skilled talent. And with AI, automation, and digital disruption accelerating faster than most HR teams can keep up, the risk of falling behind is real and growing.
Delayed action doesn’t just mean missed hires. It means lower productivity, higher attrition, and lost revenue. That’s why forward-thinking organizations are using Skills Gap Analysis as a strategic fix.
In this guide, you’ll learn a simple 5-step process, see real examples, and discover how tools like Skima AI can scale it across your workforce fast.
What is a Skills Gap Analysis?
A Skills Gap Analysis is a strategic process to assess the current skills of the workforce. It identifies the gap between existing capabilities and the skills needed to achieve key business objectives.
Moreover, this gap can prevent a company from reaching its full potential, whether in productivity, innovation, or market competitiveness. Conducting a skills gap analysis helps businesses identify where critical skill shortages exist.
Also, companies can proactively build capabilities that align with both current demands and future growth plans.
5 Easy Steps to Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis
To close the gap between current capabilities and future needs, a structured skills gap analysis is essential. Let’s explore a step-by-step guide on how to perform a successful skill gap analysis that leads to measurable outcomes.
1. Set Clear Business Objectives
The first step in any effective skills gap analysis is defining your business goals. These can be short-term, such as adopting a new technology or improving customer service, or long-term, like digital transformation or entering a new market.
For example, if your company plans to integrate AI-powered chatbots into customer support, you’ll likely need employees with experience in natural language processing, chatbot development, and data analysis.
By aligning skills planning with business strategy, you ensure that the gap analysis is both relevant and actionable. Without this foundation, any subsequent steps in your skills gap assessment may lack direction.
2. Identify the Skills You Need
Once goals are established, the next step is to identify the skills required to achieve them. This includes both hard skills (technical competencies) and soft skills (like communication or leadership).
You can use industry benchmarks, job descriptions, and analytics tools like Skima AI to map the skills required for each role. For example, a software development team shifting to cloud platforms will need skills like AWS certification, DevOps expertise, and experience with containerization.
To keep your process consistent and efficient, it’s highly recommended to use a skills gap assessment template. The template allows you to record role-specific skill requirements in a structured format that’s easy to compare later on.
3. Assess Current Employee Skills
After identifying the skills needed, evaluate your workforce’s current capabilities. This is a crucial phase of the skills gap assessment, where you gather real data on what your employees can do today.
There are several ways to collect this information:
- Self-assessments where employees rate their own abilities
- Peer and manager evaluations for a more objective view
- Performance reviews and productivity data
- AI-driven assessments that automatically benchmark skills based on output or project data
For example, Microsoft uses AI tools internally to identify skills across departments, helping managers allocate tasks based on real-time capabilities.
These evaluations give you a realistic picture of your team's strengths and weaknesses.
4. Compare and Analyze the Data
Now it’s time to compare the required skills with your team’s current skillsets. This is the heart of the gap analysis, it reveals where the differences are and helps you categorize them by severity.
You might find urgent gaps (like no one knowing a key tool), future skill needs, and even outdated skills that no longer fit your company’s goals.
By breaking the findings into actionable categories, your skills gap assessment becomes more strategic. It gives you the insight to focus efforts where they will have the most impact, whether that's through training, hiring, or shifting responsibilities.
5. Create and Execute a Development Plan
Finally, use your findings to build a tailored action plan. This is where the real transformation begins. Based on your skills gap analysis, you might start internal training, partner with external trainers, adjust job roles, or focus on specific skills when hiring.
Smaller businesses can benefit by promoting internal mobility, placing employees in roles where their existing strengths can shine while closing skill gaps through targeted development.
Using your skills gap assessment template throughout this phase ensures consistency and allows you to track progress over time. As roles evolve and technologies change, you can revisit the template to keep your workforce aligned with your company’s goals.
A skills gap analysis isn’t a one-time task, it’s a continuous strategy to keep your workforce future-ready. Whether you're a startup preparing for scale or an enterprise navigating digital transformation, a thoughtful skill gap analysis ensures your people remain your strongest asset.
Skills Gap Analysis Methods & Tools
To stay competitive, you need to close the gap between your team’s current skills and the ones needed for new tech, customer needs, or changing roles.
But it’s not just about spotting problems, it’s about using the right methods and tools to get clear, actionable insights. From simple surveys to AI-powered platforms, here’s a closer look at the best ways to assess skills and build a future-ready workforce.
1. Methods for Skills Gap Analysis
There are several proven approaches to conducting a skills gap analysis. It depends on the scale of your organization and the depth of analysis required. The most commonly used methods include:
Surveys and Self-Assessments
One of the simplest yet informative approaches is to use a skill gap analysis form to collect self-reported data from employees. In this method, employees evaluate their own proficiency in key skills related to their roles.
This provides insight into perceived strengths and weaknesses and encourages employee engagement in their own development.
Managerial Evaluations
Team leads or department managers assess the skills of their direct reports based on observable performance.
This method adds an objective layer to the analysis and is often used in conjunction with self-assessments to create a 360-degree view of employee capabilities.
Performance Reviews and Project Data
Organizations can also rely on existing performance review data, KPIs, and project outcomes to assess current capabilities. When paired with feedback, this method connects skill gaps to business results, making the analysis more useful and practical.
Each of these methods can be used individually or integrated into a blended framework for a more holistic skill gap assessment.
2. Tools for Skills Gap Analysis
The right digital tools enhance the accuracy, speed, and scalability of your skills gap analysis. Below are some of the most effective tools used by organizations today:
Skills Gap Analysis Software Platforms
Modern tools like Skima AI, Degreed, and Skills Base simplify the analysis by automatically mapping role-based skills, tracking employee strengths, and spotting gaps.
These platforms often include analytics dashboards, role libraries, and AI recommendations, making it easier to generate real-time insights.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Several companies integrate skill gap analysis into their LMS platforms like SAP SuccessFactors, Cornerstone, or Workday Learning.
These systems allow for continuous skills tracking, certification tracking, and tailored learning plans based on identified skill shortages.
Skills Mapping Templates and Spreadsheets
For smaller businesses or teams, using a well-designed skills gap analysis template in Excel or Google Sheets is a cost-effective starting point.
These templates usually have columns for role requirements, current skill levels, and training needs, offering a clear, organized view of skill gaps across the company.
Whichever tool you choose, it’s important to ensure it aligns with your workforce strategy and can evolve alongside your organization’s needs.
3. Skills Gap Analysis Templates & Forms
To streamline the process and maintain consistency, businesses often rely on pre-built resources such as an analysis template or skill gap analysis form. These resources offer structured formats to:
- List key job roles and required skills.
- Record current skill levels (self or manager-rated).
- Flag skills as “critical,” “developing,” or “non-essential.”
- Track training actions and outcomes.
A good skills gap analysis template should be customizable by role, department, or business unit. It not only simplifies the data collection process but also enables HR teams to spot trends and track progress over time.
Most organizations combine forms and templates with automated analysis tools to create a hybrid system that balances human insight with tech-enabled efficiency.
3 Real-World Skills Gap Analysis Use Cases
Successful skills analysis relies on practical applications. Let’s explore real examples of how companies in different industries used a skills gap template, form, and tool to run effective assessments and close key talent gaps.
1. Tech Sector – Pearson Cloud Upskilling
Pearson, a global education company, faced a clear talent gap analysis when moving its development teams onto AWS.
With many engineers unfamiliar with modern cloud practices, they used AWS’s Learning Needs Analysis, a type of skills gap analysis tool, to evaluate over 2,000 staff.
From this assessment, Pearson designed and delivered targeted in-house AWS training via an AWS Skills Guild partnership.
2. Healthcare – NHS Digital Literacy Efforts
In England, NHS trusts implemented EPR systems but discovered many staff lacked digital proficiency, revealing a widespread skill gap assessment problem.
Using a combination of surveys, training feedback, and observations, they completed a comprehensive skills analysis of digital literacy across clinical roles.
By employing a skill gap analysis form, the NHS identified staff over 50 years old and clinical personnel as needing extra training.
3. Manufacturing – DevOps Capability Building
Manufacturing and industrial firms moving towards Industry 4.0 have run into the need for internal DevOps and automation skills. A recent academic study into DevOps challenges showed engineers needed hands-on training beyond basic cloud knowledge.
Companies responded by distributing skills gap analysis templates to assess proficiency in areas like CI/CD tools, container orchestration, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
These industry use cases highlight how a blend of structured skills analysis methods, surveys, forms, templates, and tools can effectively identify and close capability gaps.
5 Best Practices for Ongoing Skills Gap Management
As industries evolve and technologies shift, you must implement continuous strategies for monitoring, addressing, and reducing gaps in employee competencies.
This is where the shift from a one-time skill gap assessment to ongoing skills analysis becomes crucial. Below are best practices that leading organizations use to manage skill gaps proactively and sustainably over time.
1. Integrate Skills Tracking Into Performance Reviews
One of the most effective ways to ensure ongoing skills gap management is by embedding skills tracking into routine performance evaluations.
Managers and team leads should regularly assess how well employees are performing against the skills required for their roles. This ensures that any skill degradation or emerging gaps are identified early.
2. Leverage AI-Powered Skills Gap Tools
As skill needs become more dynamic, manual tracking becomes inefficient.
Companies should invest in AI-powered skills gap tools that can scale, assess employee skills, track industry trends, and suggest personalized learning paths automatically.
3. Encourage a Culture of Continuous Learning
Sustainable skills analysis requires more than systems and processes; it demands a shift in mindset. Companies that foster a learning culture empower employees to take ownership of their development.
When upskilling becomes a shared responsibility between HR, leadership, and individuals, skill gaps close faster and more effectively.
4. Empower Employees with Self-Service Tools
Encouraging employees to take ownership of their development is a powerful way to close skill gaps quickly.
Provide a simple skills gap form or dashboard where employees can update their skills, track their progress, and see recommended learning paths.
When employees feel ownership over their career growth, they’re more motivated to close their own skill gaps proactively.
5. Make Learning and Development Continuous
The most effective companies treat upskilling and reskilling as an ongoing cycle, not a one-off intervention. Build a continuous learning culture by offering microlearning platforms, mentorship, and role-specific learning paths.
Tie learning initiatives directly to the findings of your talent gap analysis. For example, if digital communication is a common weakness across departments, create a training track focused specifically on that area.
Keep your skills gap template updated to show which skills are gained, in progress, or still missing, turning it into a live snapshot of your team’s capabilities.
Managing skill gaps long-term needs a clear plan, the right tools, and a focus on continuous growth. Regularly checking skills, linking them to KPIs, using smart tools, and involving employees in their development helps build a strong, future-ready team.
Summary - Close Skills Gaps, Grow Faster
Skill analysis demands a strategic, scalable, and future-focused approach. However, manual evaluations, scattered spreadsheets, and inconsistent methods can consume valuable HR time and still fall short in accuracy.
You can use intelligent tools like Skima AI. While it's not a traditional skills gap analysis tool, it supports the talent intelligence behind effective skills planning.
With AI-driven candidate matching, resume parsing, and smart search, it helps HR teams quickly spot and assess candidates based on key skills. In short, Skima AI streamlines hiring and helps HR focus on building a future-ready workforce.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is gap analysis?
Gap analysis is the process of comparing actual performance or current capabilities with desired outcomes or required skills. In workforce planning, it helps identify where employees fall short in knowledge or ability, allowing organizations to take targeted action to bridge those gaps.
2. What is the gap analysis in HR?
In HR, the gap analysis is a strategic method used to assess the difference between the skills employees currently have and the skills they need to meet business goals. It’s an essential part of skills gap analysis, enabling better hiring, training, and succession planning.
3. How to do a gap analysis in a company?
To do a gap analysis, start by identifying your business objectives, and then list the skills needed to achieve them. Next, assess your current workforce capabilities, compare the two sets of data, and create an action plan. Tools like a skills gap assessment template can simplify this process.
4. How to conduct a gap analysis for employee skills?
To conduct gap analysis for skills, evaluate the current skill levels of your employees using self-assessments, manager feedback, and performance data. Then compare this against the ideal skill profile for each role using a skill gap analysis form or skills gap analysis template
5. How to identify skill gaps?
To identify skill gaps, compare current employee capabilities with the skills needed for business goals using assessments, manager feedback, and templates to highlight areas needing development or training.
