Components of Skills Center

Skill Levels

Skill levels come from the rating model associated with the content section used by the Skills Center. If skill levels are enabled for the Skills Center, you can specify the level of a skill already developed to convey your proficiency for that skill. You can specify a skill level on your profile and update the level if not yet validated. Once the skill level has been validated, you can no longer update it.

Skill Center Resources

You can browse the following resources available to you based on your current skill set in your Skills Center:

  • Career ambassadors, that is, co-workers who possess the skills you are currently developing and can work with you to close your skill gaps. You may yourself sign up to be a career ambassador on the Skills and Development panel in your Connections profile.
  • Learning items that include your current skill set and skill levels as learning outcomes, or items with outcomes that include the skill you’re looking at in Skills Center. If no learning outcomes match the skill and level, you won’t see any learning resources listed. After you complete a learning item, any corresponding skills outcomes and levels are added to or updated on your profile as skills you recently developed.
  • Gigs available to you based on your current skill set in your Skills Center. You may complete a gig within the Opportunity Marketplace application to acquire skills. Once you complete a gig, the skills from the gig are added or updated on your profile as skills you have recently developed.
  • Job requisitions available to you based on your current skill set in your Skills Center.
  • Careers based on your full talent profile. You may review how well you qualify for the career and identify development opportunities and resources to help you grow within the organization. You can also explore additional careers of interest.

The learning item outcomes, gigs and job requisitions must use the same content section as the Skills Center.

Skill Detail

You can view the details of any skill in the system to examine its status as applicable and take a specific action.

  • You can check if the skill is already on your profile as an existing skill or a developing skill and optionally update the skill level.
  • You can view the career ambassadors, learning items, and gigs available to you to develop your proficiency in the skill.
  • If the skill is not available in your profile, you can add it as an existing skill or a developing skill and optionally update the skill level.
  • If it's an existing skill, you can review the endorsements received thus far and request further endorsements.
  • If you've achieved the highest level attainable for the skill, you are now considered an expert in the skill.

Skill Validation

A validated skill and skill level helps establish the credibility of your proficiency within the organization. The system will automatically validate your skill and skill level (for applicable skill levels and system setup) based on the evidence accumulated from co-worker endorsements and skill development activities.

Validation of skill proficiency is performed by adding credibility scores associated with each type of evidence encountered in the system.

Type Evidence Source Description Credibility Score

Co-worker Endorsements

Manager Includes all higher-level managers in the supervisory hierarchy 100
Expert Someone who is validated at the highest level for the skill 75
Peer Someone who reports to the same direct manager 25
Public Any other worker in the system 10
Skill Development Activities Learning Item Any learning item that includes this skill as a learning outcome 50
Gigs Any gig that includes this skill 50

As the evidence of your skill accrues and the sum of evidence scores for a skill or skill level has reached 100 points, it is considered validated. The threshold of 100 points for skill and skill level validation is fixed in the system and can't be changed.

If there are no skill levels in use in the system, when a total credibility score of 100 points is reached for a skill, it is considered fully validated.

If skill levels are enabled for Skills Center, then

  • A skill level is validated when 100 points are accrued.
  • When a skill level for skill has been validated, any subsequent validations for lower levels are recorded, and only the highest level of achievement is presented to the user.

For example, if finance manager, Cindy, has received endorsements on her Financial Planning skill for various levels:

  • Unspecified (level not specified) – 50 points, through five public endorsements
  • Beginner – 10 points, through one public endorsement
  • Intermediate – 100 points, through two learning classes, completed
  • Advanced - 75 points, through one expert endorsement

Cindy will be validated at the Intermediate level for Financial Planning, as she has acquired 100 points of evidence for that level. She will not be validated for any other levels because there is not enough evidence for them (50, 10, and 75 are less than 100). In the future, if Cindy’s Financial Planning skill is validated at the Beginner level, she will still show validated proficiency at the Intermediate level as that is the higher level for the skill.