A method, system, and computer-readable medium for using competency-related information for individuals to provide a variety of benefits is described. In some situations, individuals may propose self-assessments of competencies that they believe that they possess, such as specified skill levels of specified skills. Various techniques to independently approve proposed self-assessed competencies can be provided, such as by defining groups of appropriate reviewers (e.g., supervisors, peers and/or subordinates) for self-assessed competencies and by automatically retrieving and processing validation information from such reviewers upon receipt of a competency self-assessment in order to determine whether to approve the self-assessed competency. Various approval criteria for a proposed competency self-assessment can also be specified, such as agreement of a majority of reviewers, unanimous validation by some or all of the specified reviewers, and/or a threshold for a weighted average of reviewers' assessed skill levels for the proposing individual.