In today’s working world, driven by technological progress, there is a growing need to adapt and update skills to remain competitive. Employers need qualified employees, and employees want to develop their job-related skills, so skills profiles are becoming more prevalent. These profiles comprise skills that individuals bring to their jobs and develop over employment. When used effectively, they offer benefits in attracting, retaining, and developing talent, as well as in staffing and performance management. This paper proposes a data model for such profiles. Drawing upon a systematic literature review and interviews with employees, we derived the critical aspects of a skill profile data model. We further demonstrate the complexity and the need for a structured approach to include a bottom-up perspective. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of skills profile data models by including the employee perspectives. It further provides insights for organizations to develop a skilled workforce.