How to Identify Skills Gaps in Your Organization (Without Relying on Outdated HR Dashboards)

Why Identifying Employee Skills Gaps Is a Business Imperative

In a global economy where new technologies emerge rapidly, many companies realize that the biggest risk is not a market downturn or a missed product launch. It's not knowing where your workforce is falling behind.

According to a recent Global Talent Shortage survey, 74% of U.S. employers report difficulty finding skilled talent, often leading to stalled initiatives and missed business opportunities. This shortage is more than an HR issue, but a strategic risk for business continuity and growth.

If you're like most employers, you already know your employees need support to succeed. However, traditional ways of identifying employee skills gaps, such as internal audits and standard training plans, often miss the bigger picture.

To stay competitive, business leaders need to take an outside-in approach. Instead of looking only at internal metrics, examine what’s happening across the industry and broader market. Watching what competitors are doing, where talent is flowing, and which skill sets are growing in demand can offer far more strategic value than another outdated spreadsheet.

Want deeper insights into you and your competitors' skill sets? Book a demo with Aura to explore workforce intelligence tools that reveal hidden skills gaps, from soft skills to AI readiness.

Track What Industry Leaders Are Hiring For

One of the simplest ways to identify skills gaps is to look at the job postings and workforce from competitors in your sector. If industry leaders are urgently hiring software engineers with artificial intelligence experience or building out entire data analysis teams, that indicates a shift in the required skills for your industry.

This matters even more when those roles are missing in your organization. You might not feel the negative impact today, but your company may fall behind without a plan to develop those competencies in your existing staff or new hires.

Run a quarterly skill gap analysis by reviewing open positions at peer companies. If they are hiring in areas where you have no internal expertise, it is time to revisit your training and development strategy.

Monitor Where High-Potential Employees Go to Address Employee Skills Gaps

If you are losing high-potential employees and don’t know why, ask where they are going and what roles they are taking on. Are they leaving for companies that invest more in training programs or offer stronger development plans tied to future goals? Consider how the skills gap between what employers expect and what employees possess might influence their decisions.

Employees often leave searching for new skills, more creative thinking opportunities, or leadership development. When you understand what those opportunities look like elsewhere, you can adjust your talent development efforts to meet similar needs.

Recent findings from ADP reveal that only 24% of global workers feel confident they have the skills needed for career advancement, underscoring the importance of clear development plans and proactive talent support.

Track employee exits and analyze their next roles. This can help you better understand which skills employees are trying to gain and how you can support them before they leave.

Use Sentiment Data to Discover Missing Soft Skills

While hard skills get most attention, the soft skills gap is just as pressing. A 2025 Deloitte survey found that 66% of executives believe recent hires are underprepared, particularly in areas like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.

Meaning, oftentimes, the missing skills are not technical. They might be soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, or communication. If employees feel unsupported or unsure about career development, even the best technical training may fall short.

Review sentiment data across categories like leadership, work-life balance, and training opportunities. If reviews show dissatisfaction with development or a lack of growth, you may face a broader issue requiring training beyond hard skills, including teamwork.

Monitor employee sentiment regularly and break it down by function or geography. Low scores in career development or leadership support can reveal gaps in soft skills or mentorship.

Benchmark Against Industry Standards to Understand Skills Employees Need

Here is a common example. A B2B SaaS company may have five salespeople for every one customer success manager. That seems fine until you look at how other businesses structure their teams. If your peers are allocating resources differently, you may be under-investing in areas that actually require training or hiring support.

Aura makes it easy to benchmark how other organizations allocate roles and structure their workforce across functions. These insights are critical for business leaders making long-term workforce decisions.

Conduct a structural benchmark to see how your team compares. If you are under-resourced in areas like data analysis or customer support, it may be time to train current employees or hire for those roles to address the skills needed.

Use Market Signals to Anticipate New Skill Sets and Required Skills

Skill gaps often develop slowly. By the time they are apparent, it is already too late. Leading organizations track workforce signals to predict which roles and skills will become critical before the market shifts in the next five years.

This includes watching for increases in hiring for niche skills, tracking attrition in certain functions, and reviewing new trends in job postings. For example, a rise in demand for AI specialists suggests companies are building for the future, and those who do not follow may fall behind in technology-driven skills.

Set up a monthly report to track signals like job posting trends, hiring by competitors, and changes in required skills. These early indicators help your team make proactive adjustments to training plans.

Rethinking Skills Gaps with a Business Lens

So, identifying skills gaps is not just an HR responsibility, but a core business challenge. And the issue is only accelerating. The World Economic Forum projects that 39% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030, driven by rapid technological transformation and evolving job expectations. This makes early identification of skills gaps not just important, but urgent.

The ability to find candidates with the right competencies or to upskill your existing workforce is directly tied to your business success. Whether the focus is on soft skills, hard skills, or leadership development, employers who make this a top priority will gain a competitive advantage.

From strategic workforce planning to employee development and retention, organizations that get ahead of gaps in skills will be better prepared to adapt to technological change, economic conditions, and shifting industry expectations in the workplace.

Companies succeed by filling open positions, training employees, and building capabilities that match their future goals.

Ready to get started?

Aura helps companies identify skills gaps, track industry trends, and design development plans that align with business goals. Book a demo today to see how Aura's workforce intelligence platform can help you close gaps before they widen.