Entering Skills for Employees or Subcontractors

If you have many employees or if you work with many subcontractors, it may be hard to keep track of who does what, especially for skills that you don't use everyday. Which subcontractors fix heating systems? Who cleans up biohazards? Asbestos? Does that new employee do finish carpentry or just rough? Rather than having to remember this information or hunt for it each time you need it, you can enter skills for people, and then search based on those skills.

Our skill list includes standard skills in the restoration and construction industries, but you can customize the skills list if you want to add to or change the skills listed.

To enter skills for a person:

1. At the top of the screen, click the People tab.
2. If you’ve added people other than employees, you may want to limit the list to only employees (or subcontractors) to make the people you need easier to find. On the list-limiting options on the left, under Employees, click Active (or, under All By, click Category, and, on the next screen, choose Employee).
3. Double-click the person to enter skills for. You can also select the person, click Go, and click Open Person File.
4. Click the Skill tab.
   
5. Click Add Skill, and pick the appropriate skill from the skill list and sub-skill if necessary.
6. Identify the person's level of skill for the category you just picked. One is the lowest or least skilled; five is the highest or most skilled.
7. Close the skill screen and now you can add a note entry in case you want to enter any additional comments about the person's skills. For example, if the person does cabinet work, does the person supply and install pre-built cabinets or does the person build custom cabinets. Often such distinctions are important. You can leave this entry blank if the category and subcategory adequately define the person's skills.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you have added all relevant skills for this person.
9. When done, click the in the top right corner of the Person File to close the window.

Once you've done this, you'll be able to use the Skill Manager to find people with particular skills in any category or subcategory.