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To survey candidates for skills gaps, first define the role’s required skills and entry-level proficiency, then ask every candidate the same short set of evidence-focused questions. Compare their examples and assessment results with those requirements, follow up consistently, and treat a missing answer as “not demonstrated yet”—not proof that someone lacks the skill.
Define the role requirements before writing questions
Start with the work the person must do, not a generic list of desirable traits. Meet with the hiring manager to identify each essential skill, the proficiency needed on day one, and what observable evidence would demonstrate it. The OECD describes this kind of hiring discussion as a way to clarify skills needs before deciding whether to recruit, develop skills internally, or pursue another staffing route: OECD, Empowering the Workforce in the Context of a Skills-First Approach.
Use plain, job-related language. For each skill, define practical proficiency anchors—for example, whether the person must perform a task with guidance, complete it independently, or coach others. These anchors make comparisons clearer, but they are a design aid, not a universal validated scale.
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Ask candidates about tasks they have performed, tools they used, decisions they made, and outcomes they achieved. A useful prompt invites a specific example and clarifies the candidate’s context, responsibility, and evidence of results. You can also ask which relevant skills they have used recently and which they would like to develop for the role.
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The OECD report describes one employer process that begins with a questionnaire assessing skills and eligibility, followed by recruiter and manager screens and skills-oriented behavioral interviews. It is an example drawn from stakeholder interviews, not a required sequence for every employer.
- “Describe a recent task that required [skill]. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was the result?”
- “Which tools or methods have you used for this work, and how independently did you use them?”
- “What part of this role’s work would you want to learn or strengthen?”
Use these prompts as a starting point and tailor them to the actual duties. Do not treat confidence ratings or a candidate’s self-description as verified competence.
Compare demonstrated evidence with the target
Record the same information for each candidate in a simple matrix. Keep the required proficiency separate from the evidence collected, and note how confident the assessor is in interpreting that evidence.
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| Skill | Required level | Candidate evidence | Assessment result | Confidence | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role-specific skill | Defined before screening | Example, task, or response | Meets, partly meets, or not yet demonstrated | Assessor’s confidence in the evidence | Question or assessment to resolve uncertainty |
Mark a gap only when the evidence falls short of the defined role target. If the questionnaire does not establish proficiency, record “not demonstrated yet” and decide whether a fair follow-up can provide the missing evidence.
In one OECD technical-role example, an online assessment established a baseline and helped tailor later questions to areas where an applicant did not meet the standard. The report says the assessment score was considered with the full application, and that scores did not strongly correlate with performance in other recruitment stages. An online score should therefore be one evidence source, not the whole hiring decision.
Choose a follow-up that fits the skill
Use the method that best reflects the work and produces interpretable evidence. Keep the exercise proportionate to the role and candidate burden; the OECD report notes that a short turnaround can help maintain candidate engagement.
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| Method | Useful when | What it can show | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structured behavioral interview | The skill involves judgment, communication, or past work examples | How the candidate approached a comparable situation | Ask all candidates core questions tied to the same skill definition and use consistent criteria. |
| Online assessment | A relevant baseline can be assessed efficiently | Performance on the assessment’s defined tasks | Do not assume one score predicts performance across other hiring stages. |
| Practical work sample or demonstration | The skill is observable in a short task resembling actual duties | How the candidate performs a job-related task | Keep the task relevant and bounded; an OECD example uses a defined-period equipment problem for a role requiring that equipment. |
For technical work, a short practical task may provide stronger evidence than a self-rating when it reflects real duties. The OECD report also describes technical challenges during manager screens. Its examples illustrate possible approaches; they do not establish a single best assessment for every role.
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Apply the same criteria across candidates
Use the same core questions, task instructions, and scoring criteria for candidates applying to the same role. Follow up consistently when an answer is incomplete or unclear. Any adjustments needed for accessibility or a candidate’s circumstances should be handled with appropriate HR or legal guidance for the jurisdiction; the sources cited here do not set out jurisdiction-specific requirements.
When choosing or designing an assessment, check that it:
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- Measures a skill the job actually requires.
- Produces demonstrated behavior rather than only self-reported confidence.
- Can be scored with the same criteria for each candidate.
- Has a reasonable time burden and turnaround.
- Produces a result assessors can explain and connect to the hiring decision.
Decide whether a gap is a hiring barrier or a development need
For each shortfall, decide whether the skill is essential before the person starts, whether another fair assessment could clarify it, or whether it can be developed after hiring. Keep the hiring bar tied to actual job requirements. If an essential requirement is excluding many otherwise suitable candidates, reconsider whether that level is truly needed at entry or could be reached through training. The OECD report describes employers considering internal skills development or adjusted skills demands when hiring barriers arise.
After the process, gather feedback from candidates and managers. The OECD example includes feedback as a way to improve the recruitment process. Use it to assess whether the questions and tasks were clear and relevant; do not treat a questionnaire alone as a predictor of job performance.
Do not confuse candidate findings with workforce statistics
A candidate-level gap means the evidence gathered during recruitment does not yet meet a defined role requirement. Workforce statistics measure different things, often employers’ judgments about current employees or reports of hard-to-fill vacancies. They cannot be used to claim that the same share of applicants lacks skills.
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For example, the UK Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey 2024 release, published in 2025, reported that 12% of UK employers had at least one employee judged not fully proficient and that 4.0% of the UK workforce was judged to have a skills gap. The survey covered 22,712 employers; its sites had at least two staff on payroll, and the release states a UK-level sampling error of ±0.65% for all sites. These are incumbent-employee measures, not findings about candidates.
Other workforce and hiring surveys also have bounded populations. Employment and Social Development Canada summarized responses from more than 9,300 private-sector businesses in its 2021 Survey of Employers on Workers’ Skills: 57% reported technical or job-specific skill gaps, 49% problem-solving gaps, 36% critical-thinking gaps, and 35% customer-service gaps. These are Canadian business-reported workforce findings, not candidate-specific or current global prevalence: Employment and Social Development Canada, “Research summary: Skill Gaps and the Strategies Used by Employers to Mitigate Their Effects”.
NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 survey found that 70% of participating employers reported using skills-based hiring, up from 65% in the prior year. NACE collected responses from August 7 to September 22, 2025; the article reports 183 respondents, including 170 employer members. Respondents most often used skills-based hiring in interviewing (87%) and screening (65%); 81% used it in job descriptions and 58% in interview rubrics. These figures describe survey participants, not all employers.
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