What is a promotion readiness?
Promotion readiness is how close a person is to meeting what the next job level requires, often shown as the share of those requirements they already meet.
Updated
In short
Promotion readiness is how close a person is to the next job level. One way to measure it is a percentage: the skills (and certifications, if the level asks for them) the person already meets, divided by everything the next level requires. It shows what is left to demonstrate, not whether to promote.
The promotion readiness formula
Promotion readiness % = (skills met + certifications held) ÷ (skills required + certifications required), measured at the next career level for the person’s department. If the next level requires 20 skills and the person meets 15, the result is 75%.
A skill counts as met when the person’s latest final rating is at or above the rating the next level expects. A skill that was never assessed is not met. A skill the level marks as not required is left out of both sides of the sum.
Where the level also asks for certifications, each one the person holds counts as met. With no next level, or nothing required at it, there is no percentage.
How to read the percentage
The percentage is a measure of the gap, not a verdict. 100% means every requirement of the next level is met on paper. Anything lower points to the exact skills and certifications still missing.
Some tools show at most 99% until every requirement is met, so a rounded 100% never hides a gap. Competrace works this way for the person’s profile and the Growth page.
Where the ratings come from
Readiness is only as good as the ratings behind it. A self-assessment plus a view from a manager or colleagues, with one agreed final rating per skill, is more reliable than one person’s opinion.
The expected rating for each skill comes from a skills matrix with one row per skill and one column per job level.
Read: What is a skills matrix?
How to measure promotion readiness in 4 steps
Define what each level requires
Write down the skills and the expected rating for each job level, plus any certification a level asks for. A skills matrix or a career ladder gives you this.
Rate the person on the same scale
Use a self-assessment and a view from a manager or peers, then agree one final rating per skill.
Count what is met
For the next level, count the skills rated at or above the expected rating and the certifications held. Leave out skills the level does not require.
Divide and look at the gaps
Divide what is met by everything required. Then read the unmet skills one by one, since they show what is left to demonstrate.
Example
| Skill | Area | Data Analyst expects | Senior Data Analyst expects | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Ethics and Privacy | Data Governance | Proficient | Proficient | None |
| Analytical SQL Querying | Data Engineering | Proficient | Advanced | 1 step |
| Dimensional Data Modeling | Data Engineering | Basic | Advanced | 2 steps |
| Experiment Design and A/B Testing | Statistics & ML | Basic | Advanced | 2 steps |
| Predictive Modeling and Machine Learning | Statistics & ML | Novice | Proficient | 2 steps |
Take someone who fully meets the Data Analyst level. Against the Senior Data Analyst level, only the data privacy skill is already met, because its expected rating does not rise. If these five were all the skills the level required, they would be 1 of 5 met, so 20% ready, with the other four named as what is left.
Source: Data and analytics career path
Want your own readiness percentage? Try it on yourself with the free skill gap tool
Promotion readiness vs skills gap analysis
A skills gap analysis lists the gaps, skill by skill. Promotion readiness rolls those gaps for one next level into a single percentage. The percentage is a summary; the gaps behind it are what a person can act on.
Readiness also differs from a performance review. It compares ratings with what a level requires; it does not judge how well someone did their job this year.
Common mistakes
Treating the percentage as a promotion decision
A high percentage means the skills on paper are met. Whether to promote also depends on open roles, business need and how the person works with others.
Counting skills that were never assessed
A skill nobody has rated is unknown, not met. Counting it as met makes the percentage look better than the evidence.
Using ratings from one opinion
A single self-rating or a single manager’s rating can swing the result. Agree one final rating from several views.
Comparing against the wrong level
Readiness is measured against the next level, not the current one. Against the current level, most people would already show close to 100%.
Frequently asked questions
How do you measure promotion readiness?
Compare a person’s ratings with what the next job level requires. Count the skills rated at or above the expected rating, add the certifications held, and divide by the total number of skills and certifications the level requires.
What metrics define promotion readiness?
The share of next-level skills met, the share of required certifications held, and the list of skills still below the expected rating. The percentage summarizes; the unmet skills show what is left to demonstrate.
What are common criteria for assessing promotion readiness?
The skills and expected ratings of the next level, certifications the level requires, and a rating that more than one person has checked. Many organizations also look at open roles and how the person works with others.
How do organizations evaluate promotion readiness across different departments?
Each department has its own skills and levels, so readiness is measured against that department’s next level, using one shared rating scale. The same formula then works in every department and the percentages stay comparable.
What is a competency match percentage?
It is the same idea as promotion readiness: the share of the competencies a role requires that a person already meets. Promotion readiness applies it to the next level up.
Does 100% promotion readiness mean someone should be promoted?
No. It means every requirement of the next level is met on paper. Whether to promote also depends on open roles, business need and how the person works with others.
Further reading
- Skills management (Wikipedia)
- Succession planning (factsheet) (CIPD)
- Competencies (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)
Related
- More real examples: Software engineering career path · B2B sales career path · Human resources career path
- Other definitions: Skills matrix · Competency matrix · Competency framework · Career ladder · Career framework · Skills gap analysis · Competency model
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