If you’ve been around in the Human Resources circles for any length of time, then you have for sure heard the term Competency Model.
But what does that mean?
And, more importantly, should you use it in your business?
We will cover all of these questions in today’s article.
So, let’s begin.
Competency Model
This model is basically a guideline that the Human Resources department puts together. The purpose of the model is to specify the exact skills, knowledge and abilities that an employee would need in order to complete the job successfully.
Now, in a previous article, we discussed job postings (you can take a look at that article at Hiring Guide – Part 1). You may be wondering, isn’t the competency model the same thing as job requirements?
Although there are similarities, the answer is NO.
During the job description portion of the job posting, you generally state what you are looking for, However, the competency model takes that to a whole different level.
Types of competencies
THe competency model doesn’t just look at the basic competencies, it drills down on three different categories of competencies to ensure that the employee is exactly right for the job.
We will take a look at these categories now:
Core Competencies
These are the basic skills that the organisation expects from its employees. Without these skills, you really have nothing to look for in that specific company. These differ from organisation to organisation, depending on the work that is required. There are, however, some basic competencies that almost every company looks for. This could be things like communication skills, punctuality, and being a good team player.
Functional Competencies
These are skills that are specific for a certain job. For example, a programmer may need to know how to work in a specific programming language.
Leadership Competencies
Leadership skills is usually something that is usually reserved for higher positions like certain management roles, even though they could technically be applied to any position. These include skills like team-leading and decision-making.
This is just a basic explanation of the Competency model and how to use it. In later articles we will discuss it to a greater extent. So if you are interested in this topic, be on the lookout for those articles.
