Lockdown: think about completing the skills assessment

Bilan professionnel, bilan de compétences, ouplacement
The COVID-19 crisis has suspended time, causing a profound change in mentalities and ways of working. This is a time for reflection and is a real opportunity to look at ourselves and ask the right questions.

Whether you are working part-time, from home, or have been furloughed – if you already had doubts about your professional future, you now have more time to think about it.

 

According to an Ipsos survey of 1,025 employees aged 23 to 55, 74% say they will be “psychologically absent” from work in 2019.

 

If that’s the case for you, why not take advantage of the lockdown to think about what’s next and consider retraining?

1. Take a look at your career plan

You may have been wondering for months or even years about your place in the company or about your job itself.

 

Use your “free time” to reflect on your current professional situation.

 

  • Are you fulfilled in this position? In this company?
  • Do you have the opportunity to quickly acquire responsibilities and opportunities for development?
  • Do you feel that you have a good work-life balance?
  • Are you working towards your professional dream?
 

If you answered ‘no’ to most of those questions, it’s time for a change. Know that you are not alone!

 

93% of working people have already thought about retraining; 38% of them have taken the plunge and more than half aspire to do so (study conducted online by NouvelleViePro.fr among 2,083 French working people aged 18 to 64).

 

If, like many people, you feel that now is the time for you to evolve, but you need support, the skills assessment is a good way to see things more clearly.

 

 

2. Skills assessment vs professional assessment: what’s the differences?

Before even talking about the purpose of these two methods, it’s essential to remember that the professional and skills assessment are at the service of the employee and not the employer.

 

Nevertheless, they both serve distinct objectives.

 

  • The skills assessment

As its name suggests, the skills assessment focuses primarily on professional skills.

It’s about taking a snapshot of the skills you have acquired during your various experiences. This will enable you to identify your personal goals and strengths in order to envisage your professional development or to confirm future training opportunities.

 

The skills assessment is a unique moment devoted to reflecting on your professional career, and takes place in three phases defined by the Labour Code (art. R.6322-35):

 

  • A preliminary phase designed to inform you of the conditions under which the assessment is carried out and the methods used.
  • An investigation phase which allows you to analyse and identify your needs and thus determine the possibilities for professional development.
  • A final phase during which detailed results are presented to you.
 

NOTE #1: The skills assessment can be complete without your employer’s approval. However, depending on your situation, the required finance, or your desire to carry out the assessment during your working hours, it may be necessary to let your employer know.

  • The professional assessment

Often considered as a more global approach, the professional, or career review, allows you to review both your professional and personal situation.

 

The aim of the professional assessment is to build a real professional plan in relation to:

  • Your knowledge: all the knowledge acquired during your studies, training, and professional experience.
  • Your know-how, areas of expertise, aptitudes, and technical skills: everything you are capable of doing.
  • Your soft skills: your personality, your strengths and weaknesses: we often talk about soft skills.
  • Your motivations: the set of values driving you to act.
  • Your successes and results: quantifying and qualifying your true Added Value
 

NOTE #2: Unlike the skills assessment, with the professional assessment your employer is involved in the reflection process carried out with an external consultant. The professional assessment can also be financed by the employer or by the company if the tool is integrated into a training plan.

 

The aim is to optimise the link between your professional development plan and the possibilities for development offered by the company.

3. How to finance a skills assessment?

As it’s considered a training action, many financing options are available. There are several scenarios

 

  • You are a civil servant

It’s possible to apply for funding from your employer. However, as this can only be done during your working hours, your employer’s agreement is required.

 

  • You are an employee under private law

The CPF (Compte Professionnel de Formation – Personal training account) allows the financing of several types of training : VAE (Validation des Acquis de L’Expérience – Recognition of Prior Learning Assessment), MOOC (Massive Open Line Course) certifiers, skills assessment… subject to the following conditions:

  • You must have accumulated at least 24 hours on your CPF.
  • If you are an employee on a permanent contract, you will have to prove that you have been employed for at least 5 years, consecutive or not, whatever the nature of the successive employment contracts, including 12 months in the company in which you are currently working and that you have not already benefited from a skills assessment leave in this same company over the last 5 years.
  • If you have a fixed-term contract, you must be able to prove that you have been in paid employment for 24 months, whether consecutive or not, regardless of the nature of the successive contracts over the last five years, including 4 consecutive or non-consecutive months on a fixed-term contract over the last 12 months.

 

If you choose to carry out your skills assessment during your working hours, the approval of your employer is compulsory.

 

  • You are a job seeker

If you meet the conditions mentioned above, you can benefit from finance through the Individual Training Leave, subject to the agreement of your employment advisor.

 

Depending on your situation and your employment catchment area, you may also be able to obtain funding from the employment centre.

 

  • You are self-employed:

Get in touch with your Authorised Joint Collecting Body; some, such as FIFPL, may participate in part in the financing of the service.

 

Depending on your situation, the Chamber of Trades can also contribute to the financing of part of the skills assessment.

 

NOTE #3: If it’s not possible to utilise external financing, financing from your own funds is still possible.

In a period of change or professional development, SP SEARCH helps you progress your thinking with a multidisciplinary approach to outplacement :

Skills assessment
Personality Test

Support during the integration phase

Framing career goals

Proactive job search coaching

More than a recruitment agency, SP SEARCH supports you with your self-reflection which will allow you to reinvent yourself and open up a whole host of possibilities.

Our consultants are experienced in direct approach recruitment and will provide you with the tools to stimulate your potential, restore your confidence, and create the synergy between your skills, personality, and future professional plan.

Do you want to reinvent yourself?

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