What is skills mapping, and where do I start?

Skills mapping is the process of recording the skills, capabilities and potential across your workforce, then comparing them with the skills your business will need. It shifts workforce planning from "which roles do we need?" to "which skills do we need, and where do we already have them?", which is the foundation of every build, buy or borrow decision.

Why does skills mapping matter more now?
Because AI is changing the work inside roles faster than organisations are changing job descriptions. Jobs and Skills Australia's Generative AI Capacity Study found that Gen AI is more likely to augment jobs than replace them, but some roles, particularly administrative and clerical work, face displacement. JSA also found complementary human skills are increasingly in demand.

In other words, most of your people won't lose their jobs to AI. Their jobs will change. Without a clear view of who has which skills, you can't plan who to reskill, who to redeploy and what to hire for.

When Harrier surveyed CEOs and HR leaders with Adepto during the pandemic, most were planning for the future of work but had no firm actions in place to identify at-risk roles or reskill people. In our experience, that gap hasn't closed for many organisations.

Scenario: "AI will change half our back-office roles, and we don't know who can move where"
Olivia (illustrative) is CHRO at a 2,000-person insurer rolling out AI tools in claims and customer service. Leadership expects some processing roles to shrink and new roles to emerge in data quality, complex claims and customer advocacy.

Her HR system tells her job titles, tenure and pay. It doesn't tell her that a claims officer in Newcastle has data analysis experience from a previous career, or that three team leaders have completed project management qualifications. Without that, every new role becomes an external hire and every shrinking role becomes a redundancy.

How do I start skills mapping in five steps?

1. Start with business priorities. Identify the three to five capabilities your strategy depends on over the next two to three years.

2. Build a simple skills framework. Group skills into technical, human and digital, with a few proficiency levels. Start small; perfect taxonomies stall projects.

3. Capture what people have. Combine self-assessment, manager validation and existing data from your HRIS and learning platforms.

4. Find the gaps and the hidden supply. Compare current skills with future needs. Look for adjacent skills that make people ready to move with modest training.

5. Turn insights into action. Feed the map into build, buy or borrow decisions: development plans, internal mobility, targeted hiring and contingent workforce planning.

What tools do I need?
You can start with a spreadsheet for a pilot team. At scale, many HRIS and talent platforms now include skills profiles and AI-assisted skills inference. The tool matters less than the discipline: keeping the data current and using it in real decisions.

Where does Harrier fit?
Harrier brings the same rigour to internal talent that we apply to external talent pools. Our market intelligence team shows where external supply is thin or expensive, so clients know which skills to build internally and which to buy. And because we're technology vendor agnostic, we help clients get more from the HR and talent systems they already own.

Our Talent Evolution Diagnostic is often the first step, a structured review with key stakeholders that confirms talent priorities and a practical roadmap.

"Harrier's solution enabled transformation for talent acquistion at VIX that we didn't think was possible. Their ability to quickly stand up a team that could deliver on current global hires, and proactively source talent, set a new benchmark in talent acquisition delivery for us. The analytics BI support that Harrier was able to provide underpinned delivery and evolution. Their ability to review, optimise and simplify our talent acquisition process was invaluable."

FAQs
What is the difference between skills mapping and workforce planning? Workforce planning forecasts how many people you need in which roles. Skills mapping shows which capabilities you have and need, so you can fill those roles in the smartest way.

How long does skills mapping take? A pilot for one function can take six to eight weeks. Organisation-wide mapping is usually rolled out in stages.

Will AI replace jobs in Australia? Jobs and Skills Australia found Gen AI is more likely to augment jobs than replace them, although clerical and administrative roles are more exposed.

Series links Hub: Build, buy or borrow · Article 5: L&D on a budget · Talent Advisory and Strategic Consulting page · Download the white paper