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Competency modeling describes a strategic business practice designed to recruit new employees. In general, companies want to be as efficient as possible, and hiring the best employees is often the key to success. Companies use competency models to determine which qualities and skills are most important to success in each different job. Once they have this data, they can use it to make hiring decisions and other strategic changes.
When a company begins competency modeling, it has a few different options. You can do a study with your own employees or you can buy data from people who have already gone through the process. The first option is usually more specific to the exact business model, while the second can be easier and less expensive. The choice will often depend on the uniqueness of the business and the availability of research.
If a company decides to do its own research, it will usually start by finding out which employees are most successful in each position. This will then put these people through a series of tests to determine what their strengths are. This will include information about your psychology as well as your background and skills. The company may also ask candidates about specific elements of their work approach.
Once the company has all this data, it will analyze it and look for patterns that might make these people especially successful in their respective roles. For example, the company may determine that successful inventory managers tend to have a specific personality trait or approach to dealing with conflict or a strong aptitude for math. The qualities can be very different depending on the position.
Once a company has built some competency model, it needs to find a way to identify employees with those qualities. This may be relatively informal or may involve testing, depending on the specific business approach. The company may also change its background requirements for certain positions.
Some companies use competency modeling to improve their weakest employees. They can create courses designed to impart certain skills to employees who currently don’t have them. This approach may not always make these employees experts, but it can give the company a slight advantage. There are also companies that fire employees who are far below their competency models. This can even happen on a fairly large scale in a large company as part of a strategic review.