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Skill Search API Guide

Skill Search API helps you search Pearson’s Skills Ontology using full or partial keywords to retrieve standardized skill definitions, related terms, and metadata.

It supports ontology alignment, skill normalization, and personalized upskilling pathways.

It’s used by teams focused on workforce strategy, learning design, and data integration — helping ensure internal systems align with Pearson’s global skill taxonomy.

Who is this API for?

This API is valuable for teams that need to clean, map, or explore skill data across systems. In particular:

  • People Strategist – harmonizing workforce data across business units and external benchmarks

  • Learning Manager – identifying relevant skills to target in programs or gap analysis

  • People Analyst – enriching internal datasets with standardized skill IDs for analytics

Goals this API helps you achieve

The Skill Search API supports:

  • Mapping custom or messy skill data to Pearson’s Skills Ontology

  • Searching skills by name, partial match, or misspellings

  • Retrieving related skill suggestions for curriculum design or role profiles

What’s included in the API?

This individual API allows you to:

Feature Description
Skill lookup Enter full or partial skill name to search for canonical matches in Pearson’s Ontology
Related skills Discover semantically linked skills to enhance matching, learning, or planning
Structured metadata Access skill names, descriptions, and unique IDs for use in downstream APIs

Input and Output

Input required:

  • A full or partial skill name

Output includes:

  • A list of matched skills from Pearson’s Skills Ontology

  • Each skill includes:

    • Skill name

    • Description

    • Unique skill ID (MKD.UID)

    • Suggestions for related skills

Real-world applications

Here’s how teams use the Skill Search API:

  • Align internal skill libraries to a standard framework

  • Power skill auto-complete or enrichment features in LXP, HRIS, or analytics tools

  • Identify adjacent or emerging skills when planning for workforce development

  • Normalize user-entered skills for downstream APIs like Job Profile Builder or Occupation Comparator

API Bundles

This API is available in the following bundle:

  • Foundational APIs
    Ideal for ontology mapping, data integration, and skill normalization workflows