Identify and secure the required skills for your business enterprise
Overview
This standard is for entrepreneurs who need to identify and secure the required skills for their business enterprise. Whatever the size of your business it is important to make sure that you have got the right skills to ensure your business can deliver its products or services to the customer. To do this, you need to look critically at what skillset you require and decide how best to meet them. Identifying the required skills for your business involves working out the skills your business needs, identifying what skills currently exist in your business, deciding how any skills gaps will be filled.
You might do this if you are:
- setting up a new business or social enterprise and thinking about roles and responsibilities;
- expanding your business or a social enterprise and need to work out what skills will be needed;
- changing or adapting the products or services offered by your business or a social enterprise.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- define operational activities in relation to running and managing your business
- identify the skills required for all operational processes and procedures
- assess each activity against the existing skillsets
- identify the current skills gaps
- work out how much it will cost your business to train existing staff or get new staff with those skills
- identify the best ways to get the skills your business needs
- recruit new employees with the required skillset, if necessary
- develop the current skills of your staff
- identify when your business's needs for skills and abilities is likely to change in the future
- review the current and future skillset on a regular basis
- create Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for yourself and your employees
- follow the relevant legal requirements in relation to training and recruitment
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
Business needs
1. the hierarchy and scope of operational activities at your business
2. how to identify the required skills for your business, such as management, marketing and sales, customer service, administration and technical support
3. how to assess the number and types of staff required
4. the options for internal or external associate roles that should be reviewed
Recruitment
5. the methods of recruiting staff
6. the legal terms of employment, such as full time, part time, permanent, temporary or sub-contracting external associates
7. how to assess the costs and benefits of different staffing options for your business
8. the costs, fees, additional wages, redundancy or incentive packages associated with recruitment
9. the benefits, such as added value of people, new business opportunities or increase in motivation, professional development and career promotion
Developing staff
10. the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities and CPD records
11. the annual reviews, appraisals, team meetings, one-to-one reviews
12. the options for training staff, in-company courses, online programmes, CPD activities
13. the costs for training staff
14. why it is important to review the current and future skillset on a regular basis