Research Report
Bridging the Skills Gap: Essential Skills for Success Across Key Industries
Learn what skills drive success in different industries, how prevalent those skills are among candidates, and what strengths and skills gaps exist.
The purpose of this report is to bridge well-known industry skills frameworks with SHL’s Skills Taxonomy as measured by the Global Skills Assessment (GSA), which measures 96 distinct skills through a brief 15-minute assessment.
Through expert analysis of over 50,000 candidates, across Financial Services, IT, Retail, and Healthcare industries, this report will enable you to:
- Understand skills essential to success across the four key industries.
- Identify strengths and gaps in candidate skills sets to inform talent decisions.
- Get insights into how well-prepared candidates are for the essential skills demanded by that industry.
- Use data to support workforce planning and internal career development.
Read our report to learn more.
Discover Skills Insights That Drive Talent Mobility
Skills data isn’t just for hiring—it’s the key to retaining talent, improving internal career mobility, and filling critical roles faster.
SHL's Talent Mobility Solution helps organizations make smarter talent decisions by mapping employees’ skills to roles, creating clear career pathways, and redeploying talent where it’s needed most. With deeper visibility into workforce strengths and gaps, businesses can rely less on external hiring and unlock the full potential of their people.

Related Resources
Explore SHL’s Wide Range of Solutions
With our platform of pre-configured talent acquisition and talent management solutions, maximize the potential of your company’s greatest asset—your people.