Career direction
Skill gap or proof gap? How to tell before you take a course
Before you sign up for another course, check whether the skill is really missing, or whether you have it and just haven't shown it yet.
A job advert lists a skill you don't see on your CV, so the obvious answer seems to be a course. Often that is the wrong answer. Many people already have the skill and are missing the proof: it isn't on their CV, or it's there with no example behind it. Taking a course won't fix that, and it can make a CV weaker by making real work read like classroom practice.
1. Ask three questions first
Answer these honestly, about one skill at a time.
- Have you used this skill in a job, a project, volunteering or a business of your own?
- Could you walk someone through one real example: what you did, for whom, and what happened?
- Is that example on your CV, with the outcome or scale where you know it?
2. If you answered yes to the first two: it's a proof gap
You have the skill. What's missing is evidence another person can see. Write the example down: the task, the context, what you did and what changed. Then put it on your CV and Profile in your own words.
Don't describe real work with course words like “simulated”, “mock” or “practice”. That makes a real job read as if it never happened. And don't list a tool you've only watched videos about as if you used it at work.
Instead of “Proficient in Google Sheets”, write what you did: “Built the weekly stock tracker the shop used to reorder supplies.”
3. If you answered no to the first question: it's a real gap
Now learning helps, but start by practising, not by collecting courses. A small practice project shows you what you can already do and what's actually missing. Then take a course for the missing parts only.
Finishing a course shows what you studied. It doesn't show that you used the skill at work, so describe it as training, not as experience.
4. If you're not sure, write it down before deciding
Write one or two sentences about the last time you did something close to this skill. If you can't find anything, treat it as a real gap. If you can, it may be a proof gap after all.
5. What experience really is
Experience is work a real organisation received and used: a job, a contribution a project accepted, or a task you delivered for a volunteer or community organisation. Simulations and practice projects are useful, but they are practice. Say so when you describe them.
Quick checklist
- Pick one skill from the job advert.
- Answer the three questions honestly.
- Proof gap: write the example on your CV and Profile.
- Real gap: practise first, then learn only what's missing.
- Describe courses as training and practice as practice.
Sources and further reading
We used the following original and institutional guidance when preparing this article. External guidance can change, so review the source when making an important decision.