Skills Survey
A skills survey is a question-based instrument that asks people to report on their skills, interests, certifications, or experience, producing structured self-reported data that seeds an inventory or captures context an assessment cannot.
By Samantha, SkillsDB|Published |Updated
What It Is
A skills survey collects what people say about themselves. It asks a targeted population a fixed set of questions, from multiple choice and Likert scales to short text, certification details, and file uploads, and stores every answer against the respondent's identity. That makes it the right instrument for intake and context: which skills a new hire believes they bring, who is interested in a rotation, which certifications exist that nobody recorded, how a team feels about the training it received. It is the wrong instrument for proficiency. A survey answer is a claim, not an observed or tested level, so a claimed 4 belongs in the inventory as a hypothesis that a manager or practical assessment later confirms. The distinction matters because survey data is cheap to collect and easy to over-trust. Used for seeding, discovery, and follow-up, it accelerates everything downstream; used as evidence, it puts unverified opinions in the skills matrix.
Key Facts
- A survey is built from a reusable template of questions; the same template runs each quarter, and each run is a separate instance with its own audience and results.
- Question types cover choice, scale, rating, free text, certification updates, and file requests; any question can be marked required.
- Responses are tied to the respondent's identity, so results filter by person, status, or answer; an anonymous engagement survey is a different tool.
- A certification-update question writes straight into the person's certification record, with issue date, expiry, and attachments.
- Audiences are targeted by org structure (department, site, shift, business unit), by named individuals, or everyone; launches can be scheduled and non-responders nudged.
- Survey results inform the inventory; they do not replace an assessed level. A self-reported skill stays self-reported until it is verified.
Survey or Assessment: Which Instrument
| Question you are asking | Use a survey | Use an assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Which skills does this person claim to have? | Yes, at onboarding or when seeding an inventory | Later, to verify the claims that drive decisions |
| How well can they perform the skill? | No | Yes: manager, practical, or test-based |
| Which certifications do they hold, and when do they expire? | Yes, a certification-update question captures the record | No |
| Who is interested in a role, a rotation, or mentoring? | Yes | No |
| Did the training land? | Yes, for reaction and confidence | Yes, for demonstrated proficiency afterward |
How SkillsDB Models It
In SkillsDB a survey is an instance of a template, built by an administrator at Manage → Surveys through a five-step wizard: choose or create the template, name it and set a due date, pick the audience, review the questions, preview and create it as a Draft. Templates draw on nine question types, from Yes/No and Likert Scale to Certification Update and File Request. A Certification Currency Check for the Nursing department might ask each nurse whether their BLS card is current, then capture the credential ID, issue and expiry dates, and a scan; that answer flows straight into the nurse's certification record. The nurse answers from My Surveys, where responses save as they go; the administrator watches Not Started, In Progress, and Completed counts move, a manager sees results for direct reports only, and the table exports to Excel. Responses are never anonymous, and no survey answer changes a proficiency grade, which comes only from assessments. See Surveys and Certifications.
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