Identifying your gaps : Managing Your Career

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

Identifying your gaps : Managing Your Career

The second step in performing a Gap Analysis is to determine what you already have on your career profile that meets the requirements of a particular role. First, look at the Employer Need in your Gap Analysis and compare it with your career profile. Where there is a strong match, write the word strong in the I have column. Then write a specific example in the next column. Sometimes you may find that you have a match that you feel is not very strong or that you feel you need to develop further.

In these cases write the word opportunity in I have column. Go ahead and write a description of the experience that you do have in the next column. If you find that you do not have a match at all, I suggest you write the word need in I have column and again put need in the Example column. Let's look at an example of this. So for this first line, Proactive & Collaborative communication, we check our career profile. In our example we've listed communication as one of our skills.

So we'll write strong in the I have column. Then we'll add a specific Example, led a weekly team meeting. Then we continue to the next Employer Need and again look for a match in our profile. Keep working your way down the need items looking for matches. Don't worry if you're seeing several opportunities or needs, these are your gaps. Our goal in this moment is to just identify what you have and do not have. Once you've completed the I have column, you're ready to determine your action steps.

First, put a check mark for all qualifications, knowledge, and skills that are strong matches between the Employer Need, and I have columns. These will be the requirements that you easily meet. Next, in the Action column you'll write out the steps you need to take to further develop a skill or fill a need. Some examples are: get a certification, build an online portfolio, or manage a budget. Next, we've included a column for you to list Resources to help you complete your Actions.

List anything or anyone that will be instrumental in helping you accomplish your anticipated results. So, if my Action item is to build an online portfolio, then maybe I'll put a friend's name here, or I could put an online portfolio course from lynda.com. Continue filling out the Gap Analysis for all of your strengths, opportunities for development, and needs. In the next video we'll talk about prioritizing these action steps and helping you determine your next moves.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/managing-your-career/identifying-your-gaps