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What Is Competency?

A competency is a defined skill, behaviour or capability needed to perform a role well.

An educational definition from the HR glossary. Explore related terms below, or jump into the resource center to go deeper.

Definition

A competency is a defined skill, behaviour or capability needed to perform a role well.

Why it matters

Competencies give a shared language for hiring, development and assessment.

Examples

Illustrative example. A role might list communication and problem-solving as core competencies.

For the practical detail behind this term, follow the related metric, template and resources below.

Free, printable HR resources

Templates, checklists and calculators to put these concepts into practice — free and ungated.

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For informational purposes only. This is an educational, plain-language definition — not legal, tax, financial or compliance advice and not an official definition. Terms and obligations vary by organisation and jurisdiction. Numeric examples are simple, placeholder-based illustrations, not data. Confirm specifics with qualified professionals.
Related concepts

Related glossary terms

Keep exploring the HR vocabulary.

Glossary

Skills Gap

A skills gap is the difference between the capabilities a role or organisation needs and those it currently has.

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Job Description

A job description sets out the purpose, responsibilities and requirements of a role.

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Learning and Development (L&D)

Learning and development (L&D) is the function and practice of building organisational capability through learning.

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Measure it

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Put it into practice

Related templates

Template

Employee Development Plan Template

A development plan turns “grow this person” into something concrete.

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Go deeper

Related resources

The clusters that put this concept into practice.

Lifecycle

Employee lifecycle

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Employer operations

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Open Planning

Workforce planning

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Open Templates

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Open Playbooks

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Open Funnel

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Sourcing through to accepted offer.

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AI for HR

Where AI assists HR, responsibly.

Open Resource center

HR resource center

The central map of every cluster.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is Competency?

A competency is a defined skill, behaviour or capability needed to perform a role well.

Why does Competency matter?

Competencies give a shared language for hiring, development and assessment.

How is Competency measured?

It connects to the HR metric linked on this page, where you can find the formula and how to read it. This glossary entry is an educational definition, not a data source.