Describe in detail the nature of practical skills and abilities.

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In the world of human resources and corporate education, the acronym KSA stands for Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. It is most often used to define the requirements of a job opening and compare candidates when making a final selection. If you're looking for a job, a recruiter may be looking at your KSA profile.

KSA Background 
Historically, the KSA framework was associated with the U.S. federal government. Its agencies applied the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities model to its recruiting activities for many years, although the practice has lately been phased out in favor of resume-focused recruiting. That doesn't mean it has disappeared, however. If anything, the use of KSA is expanding to include assessments of training and coaching needs in an existing workforce.

Defining Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 
One of the criticisms of KSA is that it's easy to see those three terms as interchangeable or at the very least overlapping. However, they are distinctly different dimensions of an individual's qualifications.

Knowledge focuses on the understanding of concepts. It is theoretical and not practical. An individual may have an understanding of a topic or tool or some textbook knowledge of it but have no experience applying it. For example, someone might have read hundreds of articles on health and nutrition, many of them in scientific journals, but that doesn't make that person qualified to dispense advice on nutrition.

Skills are the capabilities or proficiencies developed through training or hands-on experience. Skills are the practical application of theoretical knowledge. Someone can take a course on investing in financial futures, and therefore has knowledge of it. But getting experience in trading these instruments adds skills.

Abilities are often confused with skills, yet there is a subtle but important difference. Abilities are the innate traits or talents that a person brings to a task or situation. Many people can learn to negotiate competently by acquiring knowledge about it and practicing the skills it requires. A few are brilliant negotiators because they have the innate ability to persuade.
Strengthening KSA Knowledge and skills are best developed through training activities that incorporate theoretical learning and hands-on application of key concepts and tools. For instance, a person who wants to be a project manager must understand the key concepts of that role such as scope, work breakdown structure, and critical path, but must also gain experience incorporating elements of those concepts into a real project.
Strengthening natural abilities is primarily a coaching challenge. Observation, feedback, and improvement can be applied to nurture abilities.

Drawbacks of KSA
The general criticisms of using a KSA framework for job applications or candidate evaluation tool include:

• Long and sometimes redundant job descriptions
• Complex and frustrating application processes
• Confusion over the differences between the terms, especially skills and abilities Some job applications include a request to describe your KSA, usually in the form of a brief essay. Keep those three terms straight and you'll be halfway 

They are all “must-haves” in our career. Recruiters look for knowledge, skills, and abilities during the hiring process. Managers use KSAs when they are considering employees for transfers and promotions. KSAs are used as the company creates and updates their replacement and succession plans.

As we talk more about the skills gap, it will be important to understand the difference because the way we obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities can vary. And if we’re an organization trying to figure out how to solve the skills gap that exists within our workforce, then we have to link the right solutions.

For instance, if the issue is knowledge, then maybe we can create an in-house library that employees can check out books on the topics. But if the challenge is skills, the answer might be training. And if abilities need to be improved, is it possible to developpersonal action plans that give employees the opportunity to refine their abilities.

Thank goodness we have the terminology purists to correct us on the words. There are times when it’s fine to use the terms interchangeably and others when we need to emphasize the exact term. Regardless, they’re all equally important.