How to carry out a skills audit – and why

A skills audit is a review of the skills and knowledge your employees have and at what level of expertise. It allows you to identify skills gaps, which in turn allows for smarter recruitment, upskilling, and structuring.

• A skills audit and skills gap analysis will help your charity to:
• Gain clarity about what skills employees already have and at what level of expertise
• Highlight any skills that aren’t currently being used
• Flag up any skills gaps that your charity currently has
• Identify any skills that your charity will need in the future, but doesn’t have now
• Be proactive when it comes to recruitment rather than responding to needs when they become urgent (for example, a project being launched that needs a new skillset) 
• Make best use of employees’ skills, allowing your charity to work more efficiently and cost-effectively
• Hire people with skills you need, rather than recruiting from outdated job descriptions
• Decide when to recruit externally, or when upskilling is a better option 
• Better plan internal progression and professional development

 

When’s the best time to carry out a skills audit?

 

It can be helpful to carry them out once or twice a year, as people are likely to have developed new skills, and team members may join or leave. It can also be helpful to carry out a skills audit if you’re looking to recruit a number of new people or restructuring a team or whole organisation.

 

 

Four simple steps to carry out a skills audit

 

Identify the skills that are essential and skills that are desirable

 

That will involve reviewing your mission, values, and long-term goals to pin down the skills your organisation needs to achieve its aims. You might also want to consider trends that are on the horizon, any regulatory changes that may impact your work, and asking individuals across the charity what skills they think would be helpful. When doing this, note which are essential and which are desirable.

 

Another option is to carry out a skills audit that focuses on one particular area or team. For example, you might focus in on a digital skills audit. (The Charity Digital Skills Report 2025 found that 43% of charities are prioritising the growth of staff/volunteer digital skills). Or you might want to focus on specific teams or your board of trustees. If your charity is a member of the NCVO, there is a helpful trustee skills audit template and board exercise.

 

 

Find out what skills employees already have

 

Find out what skills employees already have and at what level of expertise. You could do this at an individual level by carrying out surveys or interviews, asking employees to rate their own skills and knowledge. You could complement this by asking heads of teams to flag up the existing skills in their teams, and what (if any) additional skills would be helpful to reach goals and objectives. You could refer to performance reviews and training plans. 

 

 

Locate any gaps and prioritise them  

 

Compare all your findings to see where the gaps are and prioritise them in terms of how urgently they need to be in place. There might be some gaps you need to fill immediately, while others might be more desirable and needed to work on future projects.

 

This step will also give you a clear picture of any overlapping gaps across teams (in which case, individuals from across the charity could train together). It will also show if there are mentoring opportunities, for example, if an individual in one team has skills they could share with someone in another part of the organisation.

 

You might even find that some people have skills that they aren’t using in their role. Your skills gap analysis will show if these could be helpful in a different part of the charity. 

 

 

Plan how you can fill the gaps

 

Finally, plan how to fill the gaps. Generally, that will be by training and upskilling your existing team or by recruiting someone who can bring those skills into your charity.

 

Other ways to fill skills gaps include recruiting skilled volunteers with the expertise you need, or looking for pro bono support from specialist organisations. For example, if you’re looking for management support you could look at the Cranfield Trust.

 

Planning how to fill skills gaps, means you can do so in a considered, efficient and cost-effective way.