Proskills launches online skills tool
PROSKILLS, the sector skills council for the process and manufacturing sector, which includes the extractives and mineral processing industry, has launched ProFile, a simple-to-use web-based tool that allows employers to assess skills competencies, identify skills gaps and manage the training and development requirements of their workforce.
Uniquely based on both generic and industry-specific National Occupational Standards (NOS), ProFile will allow employers to build a nationally recognized set of skills competencies that can be linked directly to individual jobs and tasks within their companies.
Commenting on the launch, Terry Watts, chief executive of Proskills UK, said: ‘For the first time, ProFile allows employers to objectively benchmark the skills of their workforce against a nationally recognized set of competencies, and provides the facility for line managers and their employees to work interactively to agree, prioritize and manage a clear and accountable skills development programme linked to national accreditation.’
ProFile’s wide range of functions include: assessing and endorsing an individual’s current job-related skills against a criteria of national industry-specific and company-related competencies; creating personal development plans; setting and monitoring job-related targets; and generating hard-copy reports of qualifications and skills competencies and achievements.
ProFile can be broadly divided into three functional areas, including: System Administration, which allows employers to set up their teams and team members to suit their organizational structure and lines of reporting; Team Manager, which allows team managers to manage their own skills and development as well as that of their team members; and Team Member, which allows individuals, in conjunction with their team manager, to assess their skills and personal development against their current roles.
Project manager Alison Bucknell, said: ‘ProFile makes the process of assessing individual performance and achievements a much more objective and accurate process. Team managers can become real catalysts for change and, by drawing on the national and company-specific competency data within ProFile, can easily identify skills gaps and drive skills development within their organization using a much more targeted and impartial process.
Future development plans for ProFile include: the facility to review other suitable job roles within the company’s job library, allowing team members and their managers to identify the additional skills and training needed as part of their personal development to advance their career and support succession planning across a business; and plans for direct links from ProFile to a database of searchable national and regional training provision.
