In a constantly evolving business environment, staying ahead of the competition doesn't rely solely on cutting-edge technology or market share, it fundamentally depends on the capabilities of the workforce. Innovation, productivity, and organisational growth are all fuelled by employees. However, to harness the full potential of employees, organizations must not only recruit the right talent but also track, assess, and nurture their skills throughout their careers. This is where Employee Skill Management becomes a critical component of Human Resource Management. Maintaining an up-to-date record of employee competencies, certifications, and proficiencies helps organizations make informed decisions about promotions, internal hiring, training programs, and project assignments.
Odoo 18 introduces a refined and structured approach to skill management within its Employees module. It allows businesses to define various types of skills, assign skill levels, record employee achievements, and manage resume lines, all from a centralized system. Combined with powerful access control and integrated reporting features, Odoo makes it easy for HR professionals to build a skill-focused workforce.
This blog explores how to effectively create and use Skill Types, Resume Line Types to manage experiences and certifications, and Access Rights in Odoo 18 to manage and maintain employee skill data. Whether you are an HR executive, department manager, or a functional consultant, this guide will walk you through the key steps to implement a complete skill management strategy using Odoo.
Activating Skills Management in Odoo 18
Like many other Odoo features, the Skill Management functionality is available as part of the Employees module and can be installed directly from the Odoo App Store. In most cases, especially when installing core HR modules such as Employees, Recruitment, or Appraisals, the skill management feature is installed automatically as a dependency.
Once the module is installed, users can access the feature by navigating to the Employees module. However, before using it, you must first enable skill management manually from the module’s configuration settings. To do this, go to the Employees ? Configuration ? Settings menu. Here, you will find an option labeled “Skills Management”. Enabling this option activates various related menus and tabs such as Skill Types, Skill Levels, and the Skills tab inside the employee form.
Once activated, the system allows HR professionals to record, categorize, and evaluate each employee’s competencies in a structured and efficient manner.
Configuring Skill Types and Skills
Once the Skill Management option is activated in the Employees module, the next step is to configure the skill structure, which includes Skill Types, individual Skills, and Skill Levels. Odoo provides a highly flexible and modular approach to categorize skills based on the business domain, department, or nature of the skill. Skill Types act as categories or domains under which various related skills are grouped. This helps in logically organizing skills and makes it easier for HR teams to manage and retrieve them. For example:
- A Skill Type like Programming may contain skills such as Python, Java, or C++.
- A Skill Type like Languages can include French, Spanish, or English.
- For non-technical departments, you might create Skill Types like Soft Skills or Management Skills.
Skill Types also play an important role in filtering employees based on the skill category, especially during recruitment or internal role evaluations.
To configure Skill Types:
Go to Employees ? Configuration ? Skill Types.
A Skill in Odoo refers to a specific competency or knowledge area that can be assigned to employees. Skills are always linked to a Skill Type and represent what the employee is proficient in. Each skill entry can later be rated using Skill Levels, which helps to quantify how well an employee knows or applies the skill.
For example:
- Python (under Programming)
- Team Leadership (under Soft Skills)
- Microsoft Excel (under Office Tools)
This is how a Skill Type is configured in Odoo. Under each Skill Type, you can define multiple related skills and assign predefined skill levels to each. Additionally, you can track the employee’s level of expertise using the progress percentage, which visually represents their proficiency in that particular skill.
Adding Skills to Employees
Once Skill Types, individual Skills, and Skill Levels have been configured, the next step is to assign these skills to employees. Odoo 18 provides a dedicated Skills tab within each employee’s profile to record and manage their competencies. This feature enables HR teams and managers to maintain an up-to-date record of each employee’s qualifications, technical abilities, and other relevant skills. These entries can be used later for performance reviews, promotions, internal transfers, or training analysis.
To assign a skill to an employee, first we need to select the employee whom we want to add the skill, Go to the Skills section in the Resume Tab:
When we click on the Pick a Skill from the list, it will open the pop-up with all the skill types that we have configured, from there we can select the skills and their level, just like below:
We can revisit the Skills tab at any time to:
- Update skill levels as the employee improves
- Adjust progress % based on training or project performance
- Add new skills or remove outdated ones
This ensures that the employee skill database remains current and accurate. Odoo 18 introduces a timeline interface within the Skills tab that allows users to track the evolution of an employee’s skills over time. This is particularly useful for HR managers and team leads to observe skill development, training impact, and experience growth.
Resume Lines in Employee Profiles
In addition to skill tracking, Odoo 18 offers a feature-rich Resume tab inside each employee’s profile. This section allows HR professionals to document an employee’s career history, educational background, certifications, and training experiences in a structured and organized manner. These entries, known as Resume Lines, are categorized using Resume Line Types, which provide flexibility in organizing employee achievements and qualifications.
Resume Lines serve as a digital profile of an employee’s professional journey. Each line represents a specific record of:
- Work experience
- Education
- Certifications
- Languages
- Internal or external training
Unlike unstructured attachments or free text notes, Resume Lines in Odoo are standardized, categorized, and searchable, making them ideal for analysis, reporting, and audits.
Before adding resume entries to an employee profile, it’s essential to define Resume Line Types.
Employees ? Configuration ? Line Types
To add resume entries to an employee, navigate to the Employee form view and click on the Resume tab. Within this tab, you will find a Resume section, where you can easily add new entries. Each resume line can be filled with the following details:
- Title: The name of the role, degree, or certification.
- Type: Select the appropriate Resume Line Type such as Experience, Education, or Certification.
- Display Type: Determines how the resume entries under that type will be presented
- Start and End Dates: Indicate the duration of the activity.
- Description: Add relevant notes, achievements, or responsibilities.
Employee Update Rights
Odoo 18 offers a role-based access control system to ensure that only authorized users can modify sensitive HR information, such as employee skills and resume entries. These permissions are managed through user groups and record rules, providing flexibility and security in HR operations. Access rights define who can view, edit, or add information within the Skills and Resume tabs of an employee profile.
The “Officer: Manage all Employees” group in Odoo 18 has the necessary permissions to add, edit, and remove Skills and Resume Lines directly from the employee form view. This allows HR officers to manage employee competency data efficiently. However, users in this group do not have access to configure the underlying settings such as Skill Types, Skill Levels, and Resume Line Types. These configuration options are reserved for users with the “Administrator” access level, who are responsible for defining and maintaining the system-wide HR structure and configuration.
Effective employee skill management is essential for building a competent, agile, and future-ready workforce. Odoo 18 provides a structured and user-friendly framework to help HR teams and managers track skills, document experience, and plan for employee growth through its integrated Skills and Resume features. By configuring Skill Types, Skill Levels, and Resume Line Types, businesses can ensure consistent and meaningful classification of competencies. With clear access rights between HR Officers and Administrators, Odoo maintains a secure environment while empowering HR personnel to update employee records confidently. Whether you're conducting appraisals, assigning projects, or identifying training needs, Odoo 18's skill management tools enable smarter, data-driven workforce decisions, all within a single, centralized platform.
To read more about Overview of Reporting in Odoo 18 Employee, refer to our blog Overview of Reporting in Odoo 18 Employee.