Published 22 Feb 2023
What is a Competency Assessment?
A competency assessment is the process used by organizations to identify an employee’s suitability for a given role. It is conducted either initially or periodically by a qualified personnel assigned by the organization. The competency assessment measures an employee’s skills, knowledge, and performance against pre-defined benchmarks and job requirements. Competency assessments aim to determine gaps in skills and performance of an employee to determine the appropriate corrective actions such as providing training.
Employee Competency Assessment Template
A competency assessment template or competency evaluation form is used to evaluate if candidates have met the expectations for a given role. Assess general factors like productivity, work quality, attitude, and punctuality. End assessment by providing recommendations and overall competency assessment rating. This template is 100% customizable and you can modify it according to your workplace needs. Also, we’ve created a competency assessment sample pdf to preview.
Competency assessments are commonly confused with performance appraisals and employee evaluations. Competency assessments focus on an employee’s suitability for a given role, while performance evaluations measure the work performance of someone who has already been deemed suitable for the role.
In this article
- Why Perform Competency Assessments?
- What is a Competency Assessment Template?
- Competency Assessment Sample
- FAQs About Competency Assessment
- SafetyCulture: The Ultimate Competency Assessment Software
- Featured Competency Assessment Templates
Why Perform Competency Assessments?
Competency assessments are used to help identify gaps between an organization’s strategic plans and its existing employee competencies. They can assist with evaluating how employees use their knowledge and skills in on-job situations. Conducting competency assessments help prioritize areas for further development and support focused on hiring decisions to fill those gaps.
What is a Competency Assessment Template?
A competency assessment template is a tool used to systematically measure skills gaps for specific roles across an organization. An effective competency assessment template should cover three key competency categories when assessing an employee’s capability:
- Technical: specific skills and knowledge required for the given role
- Behavioural: behavior, problem-solving and cultural values
- Organizational: leadership, career motivation, and teamwork
Competency Assessment Sample
Role: Programmer
Overall Competency Rating: Competent (90-100% score)
Recommendations: Employee is fit for the job but needs to improve their communication skills
- Job Knowledge – Excellent: Employee has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science
- Productivity – Fair: Employee can finish the job on the set target date
- Work Quality – Fair: There are minor revisions needed on employee’s work
- Communication Skills – Poor: Employee has trouble using correct grammar
- Creativity – Fair: Employee can only follow and execute instructions
- Attendance – Excellent: No unnotified absences and no records of tardiness
- Work Relations – Excellent: Practices professionalism and integrity
- Dependability – Excellent: Employee supports teammates when the lead is unavailable
FAQs About Competency Assessment
The three common types of competency assessments for employees are self-assessments, manager assessments, and 360-degree assessments. Self-assessment is when the employee evaluates their own level of competence, while manager assessment is performed by the employee’s direct supervisor. 360-degree assessment, on the other hand, is an evaluation conducted by the employee’s managers, peers, and subordinates.
In addition to job performance, evaluations of an employee’s hard skills, product expertise, and soft skills can also contribute to a comprehensive competency assessment. Further, it is ideal to establish a predetermined set of criteria that can be the basis of whether an employee is competent enough for a given job.
Competency assessments can be performed by different individuals or groups, including HR professionals, managers and supervisors, colleagues and peers, subordinates, and even external consultants. The specific person or group responsible for the assessment will depend on the context, purpose, and established needs for that particular assessment.
SafetyCulture: The Ultimate Competency Assessment Software
Paper-based competency assessments take a long to complete and are difficult to gather actionable insights. Finding the right software and tool can help HR teams rapidly roll out competency assessments, gather consistent data, and help business leaders make strategic hiring and development decisions.
SafetyCulture is the world’s most powerful form-building app that lets you digitize your paper-based forms to be used both online and on mobile applications. HR teams can rapidly roll out and perform competency assessments, gather key data and uncover key competency gaps.
To save you time, we have created these 3 sample competency assessment templates which you can download for free and customize for your given roles. Perform paperless competency assessments using SafetyCulture on your computer or using the SafetyCulture app on your tablet and mobile device. SafetyCulture is free to use for small teams and offers advanced features for premium subscriptions – view pricing and features.
Featured Competency Assessment Templates
Leadership Competency Evaluation Form
Use this competency assessment template to evaluate if potential leaders have the ability to lead and support their subordinates. Evaluate if a candidate can engage and motivate individuals while maintaining professionalism. Provide an overall competency assessment rating if the candidate is suitable for the job based on the total score accumulated.
Customer Representative Competency Assessment Template
This customer representative competency assessment template is used to measure a candidate’s suitability for a customer representative role. It helps measure the technical, behavioral, and organizational background of a candidate, checking if the candidate meets the criteria set by the company.
SafetyCulture Content Specialist
Jona Tarlengco
