Describing Competencies and Skills

In this section, you will learn how the SAP SuccessFactors system tracks attributes (also known as capabilities) and their proficiency levels. In Performance and Goals, two attribute types are relevant: Competency and Skill.

With Job Profile Builder, these attributes can be easily associated to Job Families and Job Roles. Expected ratings and/or proficiency levels can be included and displayed in Performance and 360 Reviews forms as the optimal measurement the employee should achieve to perform well in their role.

The attributes can be maintained in Manage Talent Intelligence Hub by an administrator, as well as the proficiency rating scale that each attribute type should use, create and manage tags to categorize attributes, create and assign behaviors to existing competencies, and more.

As an end user, you can access your Growth Portfolio, which will include competencies and skills assigned to your job role, and you can add your ones from AI-Assisted Skill recommendations or the attribute library available.

Managers can also oversee their reports' competencies, skills, and ratings, which can be done manually from the Team View or Performance and 360 Reviews forms.

Competencies and skills are related concepts but have distinct differences. Here's a breakdown of each and how they differ:

• Competencies are broader combinations of knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that enable a person to perform a job effectively.
• They encompass multiple skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
• Competencies are often linked to an organization's core values or cultural fit.
• People are either effective or not effective at competencies.
• Examples include leadership, communication, problem-solving, adaptability, and teamwork.
• Competencies are often more difficult to measure as they're more subjective and qualitative.
• Fewer than 100 competencies can describe the jobs in most large organizations.

• Skills are specific learned abilities that enable you to perform particular tasks or activities.
• They are often technical or task-oriented.
• Skills are developed through a mix of formal training, education, and experience.
• People either know or don't know skills.
• Examples include programming in Python, writing reports, operating specific machinery, or speaking a foreign language.
• Skills are typically easier to quantify and measure.
• Skills change significantly as new ones are created and others become outdated.
• Over 1000 skills are needed to describe the jobs in most large organizations.

In the context of employment, employers often look for a mix of skills (job-specific abilities) and competencies (behavioral qualities) when evaluating candidates.

If your organization has core values or mission competencies, they can be identified as Core and set to dynamically pull into Performance or 360 Review forms for all employees, using Attribute sections of type Core.

To determine which competencies and/or skills are Core to an organization, they need to be categorized with the corresponding Tag.

This tag to categorize a Core competency or skill will be highlighted in the employee's Growth Portfolio. Talent Intelligence Hub also uses Critical and Trending as standard tags; customers can add other tags of their choice to categorize attributes.