Concept and Description

Skills inventory: According to SHRM, ―a skills inventory is a compilation of the skills, education and experiences of current employees. Organizations use these inventories to assess whether current staff can meet company goals. Understanding the company's pool of current skills/talents and future skill requirements aids in strategic planning efforts.‖

A Skill Inventory for ATS staff will be developed for the FSS by a student in the MSc HRD programme as part of her practicum experiences, during Summer 2019. The engagement involves: developing a concept paper for talent management for the FSS ATS staff (administrative, technical and service); identifying, classifying and measuring (self-assessments only) the skills (ability and desires) and qualifications (knowledge) of all FSS ATS staff and identifying and describing cost-effective sources of training to fill skills gaps. The inventory will allow a career development plan to be developed and formally implemented by 2020-2021. 

Expected Outcomes

According the SHRM, skills inventories are useful in the recruiting, training, succession planning and strategic planning process for an organization. The FSS should benefit in the following ways after the inventory is developed and maintained in the long-term: 

• Recruiting: it should allow FSS to track the skills and abilities of current employees, thereby identifying skills gaps to be filled and skills to be utilized. Hiring decisions can be made easier, both for current and future needs. 
• Training: the inventory can inform the training needs, and assist FSS to budget for training programmes. 
• Succession planning: the inventory allows the FSS to identify potential leaders or potentially high performers to be mentored for other roles and responsibilities