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Social Enterprise Skills Gap Research

This short survey is being used as part of a research project to identify key skills gaps in the SE sector in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department For Economy. Your responses will help to shape future investment and support into the sector. Many of you may not be in place where you are ready or able to recruit but we still would like to understand the skills you feel your organisation needs moving forwards.

Rate your confidence or current capacity in each skill area on a scale from 1 (Not confident) to 5 (Very confident). Add comments or evidence where relevant.
How Long have you been trading?
How many staff do you employ?
If you employ staff where and how do you recruit them? Tick all that apply
Do you have job opportunities you cannot fill? Can you tell us a bit about these jobs.
To what extent do skills gaps limit your ability to grow or deliver effectively?"
What proportion of your workforce have a disability or have barriers to employment?
The section looks at skills you feel you need to improve upon. Please rate how you see you organisation - with 1 being not confident and 5 being very confident.
Financial literacy and budgeting
1 Not very confident
5 Very Confident
Fundraising & Investment Readiness
1 Not very confident
5 Very confident
Tendering for contracts/public procurement
1 Not at all confident
Reasonably confident
5 Confident and experienced
Business Planning & Strategy
1 Not Confident
5 We are confident
Market Analysis & Income Generation
1 Not confident
5 Confident we do this well
Project & Operations Management
1 Not confident
5 Experienced and confident
Sales, Marketing & Communications
1 Not confident
5 Confident
Leadership & Vision Setting
1 Lack confidence
5 Confident leadership and clear vision
Managing Staff & Volunteers
1 Not confident
5 We are confident and do this well
Governance & Board Management
1 We find this hard
5 We have strong governance and management systems
HR Knowledge & Legal Compliance
1 Poor or inadequate systems
5 Strong systems in place
Succession Planning
1 We have no plan
5 We have a robust plan
Measuring Social Impact
1 We do not really measure what we do
5 We do this well with good systems in place
Digital Skills (CRM, productivity tools, etc
1 We have a big skills gap
5 We do this well and have good systems in place
Awareness of Tech Trends (AI, big data). Tick which best applies
Stakeholder Engagement & Networking
1 We find this hard
5 We do this well and often
Cross-sector Collaboration
1 We prefer to do our own thing
5 We collaborate often it helps our business
Storytelling & Mission Communication
1 We find this really hard
5 We are great at telling people what we do and why
Creativity & Opportunity Spotting
1 Creative but miss opportunities
5 Excellent
What are your top three 3 priority areas for addressing skills development or deficits in your organisation?
Would you be willing to have call or join a group zoom to discuss any of your responses with the researchers
Please leave a name and email for follow up if you have indicated you are interested and willing to participate in a group call or 1-1 interview
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