Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Toolkit 2025

2. Leverage a skills taxonomyto establish acommon skillslanguageBusinesses and the education industry Organizations can establish a common skill lan- guage by adopting a standardized taxonomy, such as the Global Skills Taxonomy, and tailoring it to meet specific organizational needs. Determining how detailed the taxonomy should be is critical, and based on its intended use, cur-rent stage of skills development, and resources available for ongoing maintenance. For example, organizations that need to closely track spe-cialized skill sets or place employees in highly technical roles (such as software developers or data analysts) may require detailed classifica-tions from the outset. This could include specific technological skills, coding languages or project management competencies that are essential for such roles. In contrast, organizations focused primarily on broader upskilling or reskilling needs – such as fostering AI literacy or buildinggeneral leadership skills – might benefit fromstarting with broader skill categories that can berefined over time as the taxonomy matures. To ensure the taxonomy’s relevance, pilot test it with select teams, gathering feedback to refine and create targeted training resources for HR, managers and employees.Governments Governments should establish a common skill language by adopting a standardized taxonomy, with a level of detail or granularity that aligns with their country’s strategic workforce goals and de-velopment stage. Broader frameworks like the Global Skills Taxonomy offer simpler categoriza-tions, while more detailed taxonomies like ESCO provide highly specific skill categories but may require regular updates to stay relevant. For economies with advanced workforce needs or specialized sectors, a highly detailed taxonomy enables precise identification of sec-tor-specific skills and gaps, helping tailor train-ing programmes that boost competitiveness. Economies that are just starting out on their skills journey or undertaking large-scale reskill-ing might begin with broader skill categories, in-creasing granularity as workforce development needs progress. Where resources or capacity for frequent updates are limited, a less granular approach can simplify management and ensure alignment with broader strategies. To ensure relevance, it may help to pilot the taxonomy with select government agencies or industries, gathering feedback to refine it and produce tailored guidelines or toolkits for stake-holders.See: –Key insight 9 to learn about the key proper - ties of a skills taxonomy. –Key insight 10 for examples of the granulari-ty of international skills taxonomies. –Key insight 11 for an example of how tocross-walk differ ent taxonomies. Find out: – How Agility leveraged the Global Ski lls Taxo- nomy to drive their targeted leadership developme nt programme. – How Coursera has applied a highly granular skills taxonomy to accurately tag and track course-based skills. – How ETS cross-walked its taxonomy to the Global Skills Taxonomy to develop a common language of skills, from childhood into adult- hood. – Why the Sultanate of Oman employs a less granular skills taxonomy while the government of Singapore has developed a highly d etailed one. Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Toolkit 30