---
title: "Assess an Employee’s Skills"
canonical: "https://help.skillpanel.com/space/TBG/3410296833/Assess%20an%20Employee%E2%80%99s%20Skills"
format: markdown
---
Measure what your team actually knows and close skill gaps with calibrated ratings.

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### When to Use This

- During quarterly or annual performance reviews.
- When verifying readiness for a new role or promotion.
- Before creating learning plans or assigning training.
- To validate self-assessments with manager or expert input.

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### Prerequisites

- Access to **SkillPanel**.
- Supervisor or HR permission to rate employee skills.
- Assigned skillsets for each employee (via Job Position or Additional Skills).

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### Quick Start

1. Go to **People → Employees**.
2. Search or filter to find an employee.
3. Open their **Skills** tab.
4. Click **Rate employee skills**.
5. Choose the rating scope and begin assessment.

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### Detailed Steps

1. **Find the Employee**  
Go to **People → Employees**. Use the **search bar** to type a name, or click **Show filters** to narrow by team, department, or position.  
*Why this matters:* Filtering keeps evaluations consistent within comparable groups—useful for cross-role benchmarking.

![image-20251023-072736.png](media://224cc874-b206-4ecf-926d-960d81c4e8b9)


2. **Open the Skills Tab**  
Select an employee, then click **Skills** at the top of the profile. Scroll down and select **Rate employee skills**.  
*Why this matters:* All role-related and additional skills load automatically—no manual setup required.

![image-20251023-072752.png](media://d1b0eb14-71ab-4646-845f-a893a91a17c2)

3. **Set Up the Evaluation Scope**  
Define what to include in the rating session. You can:
  - Adjust rating scope (choose all or specific skillsets).
  - Include only self-rated skills (>0%).
  - Include skills not yet rated by a supervisor.  
*Why this matters:* Keeps reviews targeted—avoids re-rating unchanged or irrelevant skills.

![image-20251023-072812.png](media://aa040731-9630-4aa2-ad56-2118c67386fb)

4. **Rate Skills**  
You’ll see grouped skill categories (e.g., Cloud, Data Science, Infrastructure). For each skill:
  - Select a level from **0 (Clean slate)** to **4 (Expert)**.
  - Use **0–4 keys** and press **Enter** to move faster between items.
  - Or click **Next group** to navigate manually.  
*Why this matters:* Ratings update live and feed into the employee’s Skill Points, enabling calibrated analytics across teams.

![image-20251023-072825.png](media://b809ba5f-c9b3-485e-952c-7ace5b67e867)

5. **Complete the Evaluation**  
Once finished, the system saves ratings and returns you to the employee’s profile. Their updated progress and position fit metrics appear instantly—no extra submission needed.

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### Use the Product to Go Faster / Clearer

| Step | Feature | Benefit | How |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Finding employees | **Search + Filters** | Locate review targets instantly | Query by name, team, or job position; filters return results from large orgs (200+ employees) in under a second. |
| Rating skills | **Keyboard navigation + live scoring** | Faster reviews, fewer clicks | Managers can rate 100+ skills in minutes using hotkeys (0–4 + Enter). |
| Measuring growth | **Automatic Skill Points update** | Quantifies progress objectively | Each new rating recalculates the employee’s position fit % in real time. |
| Reviewing outcomes | **Integrated analytics view** | Enables calibration and audit trail | Ratings feed into dashboards for skill gap analysis, no exports needed. |

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### Examples

- **Example 1:** A supervisor rates 113 backend development skills. Filtering out unchanged ratings cuts the review time from 45 minutes to 30.
- **Example 2:** After updating ratings, an analyst’s position fit jumps from 12% to 45%, exposing clear improvement in core SQL and data modeling.

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### FAQ

**Q: Can multiple raters assess the same person?**  
A: Yes. Supervisor, peer, and expert ratings are stored separately and visible in the skill detail view.

**Q: What happens if I stop mid-assessment?**  
A: Progress auto-saves; you can resume anytime from the same screen.

**Q: Can I import ratings from an external system?**  
A: Not currently; but reach out to [support@skillpanel.com](mailto:support@skillpanel.com) and we can import them for you.

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### Pitfalls & Tradeoffs

- **Don’t rate too broadly.** Unfocused evaluations inflate skill noise and distort analytics.
- **Avoid skipping zero-level skills.** Even a “Clean slate” rating adds clarity to baseline gaps.
- **Don’t use Expert (100%) casually.** Reserve for proven mentoring capability or verified certification evidence.