As part of Absorb Skills, Learners can complete a Self-Assessment to evaluate their Skills and build a personalized Learning Path. A Self-Assessment can focus on the Skills related to a Learner's current role, on a role they want to move into, or on Skills they choose without selecting a role at all.

Accessing Absorb Skills

Once a Learner qualifies for a Skills license, they see a New badge on their Profile icon in the Learner Experience. Clicking this icon takes them to their Skills Profile, which is the default landing page for Learners who qualify for a Skills license. From there, they can begin their upskilling journey by starting a Self-Assessment.

Previously, Info was the main landing page of the Learner's Profile. Now, the Learner's Skills Profile is the first page they land on when navigating to their Profile. This makes it easier for them to start and continue engaging with Absorb Skills.

Other Profile tabs and functionality are unaffected by this change; they have just been shifted to the left of the main order.

The Self-Assessment

The Self-Assessment puts Learners in the driver's seat by helping them structure their career and upskilling goals into a tangible plan. A Learner can learn about roles in their organization that they aspire to, focus on improving the Skills for their current position, or identify specific areas of interest to focus on.

Learners can follow a role-based path, or they can focus solely on Skills without selecting a Role. Both paths are equally valid ways to build a Learning Path.

Self-Assessment Types

Each Self-Assessment is one of three types. The type depends on which Roles, if any, the Learner has selected when they complete the Self-Assessment.

Skills-Only Path

The Skills-only path lets Learners build a Learning Path from the Skills that interest them, without selecting a Current Role or Desired Role. To start this path from the Learning Pathway tile on the Dashboard or the banner on the Skills Profile, complete the following:

1. Click Get started.

   

2. Select Skills-only to bypass Role selection.
3. In the New Learning Path window, use the Skills interest search or browse by category to find Skills that align with your goals or interests.

4. Select the Skills you want to add. You can add or remove Skills at any time.

   

   

5. Click Save to save your selections, or click Finish later to save your progress and return to your Profile.

6. Search for Courses based on your selected Skills and add them to your Learning Path.

   

The New Learning Path window also includes an optional role selection. If the Learner selects a Role here, the Self-Assessment becomes a Desired Role-Based assessment.

Role-Based Paths

Learners can select a specific Role they would like to learn about, either their current Role or a different one.

Current Role

To start, the Learner must choose their Current Role or one similar to it. This choice sets the baseline for their Skill proficiency levels. It also ensures that later steps of the Self-Assessment show the right goals.

• A Role must be selected before the Learner can move on to the next steps.
• Once a Role is selected (by clicking anywhere in the top section of the card), the Summary Banner is shown. This Summary Banner updates as the Learner progresses through the Self-Assessment.
• A Learner can search to find a specific role, such as "Customer Success Manager".
• This grid is always sorted alphabetically (A-Z), and the Load More button shows another page of results.
• View Details shows a summary of the particular Job Role. The extra context can help the Learner choose the correct Role.

Desired Role

After selecting a Current Role as a starting point, the Learner chooses a Desired Role as a goal.

• Roles are sorted by Percent Match:
  • This is calculated based on how many overlapping Job Skills there are between the two roles. More similarities lead to a higher percentage match, and these are indicated by a green briefcase icon on the View Details page of the role.
  • The Current Role is always a 100% match and uses the success color variable.
  • High and normal percent matches (99% - 31%) use the primary color variable.
  • Low percent matches (30% and below) use the default color variable.
• A Role must be selected before the Learner can move on to the next steps.
• Once a Role is selected (by clicking anywhere in the top section of the card), the Summary Banner is updated.
• A Learner can search to find a specific role, such as "Customer Success Manager".
• The Load More button shows another page of results.
• View Details shows a summary of the particular Job Role. The extra context can help the Learner choose the correct Role.

Switching Between Paths

Learners can switch between the Skills-only path and the role-based path while their Self-Assessment is in progress. The following options are available:

• Set career goal: Available on the Skills-only path. Click this button to switch to the role-based path and select a Role.
• Explore Skills: Available in the Self-Assessment banner on the role-based path. Click this button to switch to the Skills-only path and open the New Learning Path window.

Once the Learner completes the Self-Assessment, switching is no longer available. To take a different direction after completion, the Learner can start a new Learning Path, as described in Setting a New Goal or Starting Over below.

Rating Job Skills

Once the Learner has chosen a goal, they rate their proficiency across the Job Skills associated with it.

In role-based assessments, the Job Skills shown here are based on the Learner's Desired Role. In Skill Set assessments, they are the Skills the Learner selected on the Skills-only path.

• A Learner clicks the star for the proficiency level they feel they fit into for a given Skill.
• There are three levels of Job Skills proficiency:
  • Beginner: Little to no expertise or knowledge.
  • Intermediate: Some expertise and knowledge.
  • Advanced: Significant expertise and knowledge.
• In role-based assessments, Job Skills required for the selected Role are marked as required. This indicator does not appear in Skill Set assessments, since no Role is selected.
• Results are saved on click, so even if a Learner has to leave the Self-Assessment part way through, their progress is saved.
• A Learner can update their ratings until they complete the Self-Assessment. At that point, their ratings become the final record for that Self-Assessment. The Learner can still update their ratings later with the Edit Skills function on the Skills Profile. These later updates are not linked to the original Self-Assessment.
• At least one item must be rated before the Learner can move to the next screen.

A Learner can also add more Job Skills to their Self-Assessment. This helps them explore other areas of interest beyond the role they chose as their Desired Job Role.

• Clicking the Add Job Skills button opens the Add Job Skills subpage of the Self-Assessment window.
• There are two main sections on this page:
  • Current Role: This is automatically populated with the Job Skills tied to your Current Role. In the image below, some Skills overlap between the two Roles, so they are greyed out.
  • Job Skills: This allows the Learner to search for any Job Skill to add, even if it is not related to either role.
  • After selecting additional Job Skills, the Learner clicks OK to return to the Job Skills page of the Self-Assessment window. They can then rate the new Skills as well.
  • A Learner can also remove any Additional Job Skills they have added by clicking the x control to the right of the stars.

Summary and Next Steps

Once the Learner has rated their Job Skills, they see a quick summary of their Self-Assessment.

• The Self-Assessment record is committed once the Learner clicks either the Create Learning Path or Done button.
  • Before doing so, they can still navigate back to earlier steps to update any of their selections or ratings.
  • After completion, the Learner cannot return to this window. To change their selections (such as choosing a different Desired Role), they can use Edit Skills on the Skills Profile or start a new Self-Assessment.
• The next step is to build their personal Learning Path.
• After the Learner closes the Self-Assessment, their Skills Profile updates to show content specific to their Skills activity and progress.

Once you complete your Self-Assessment, your Manager can review your ratings and provide their own evaluation and feedback. You receive an email with a direct link to their feedback, and a banner also appears on your Learner Profile. For Skill Set assessments, the Manager's review is titled Skill set assessment rather than using a Role name. For more information, see Manager Review and Evaluation of Learner Self-Assessment.

Setting a New Goal or Starting Over

Once a goal has been set, a Learner may want to set a new goal or reset the current one. To do this, return to the Skills Profile page and complete the following:

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
2. Locate the light red banner with the message "Start a new learning path if you're ready to try something different".

3. Click the banner to start a new learning goal.