Best questions for ex-cult member survey about skill gaps

Here are some of the best questions for an ex-cult member survey about skill gaps, plus tips to make your survey truly insightful. If you want to generate a survey tailored for ex-cult members and skill gaps in seconds, you can build your survey with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about skill gaps

Open-ended questions help us learn beyond the surface—they let ex-cult members express their unique circumstances, explain personal skill gaps, and highlight real obstacles they face after leaving their communities. Use these when you want depth, not just data.

Here’s our top 10 list of open-ended questions to uncover skill gaps:

1. Can you describe areas where you feel less prepared for employment since leaving your previous group?

2. What skills do you believe you missed out on developing during your time in the group?

3. Are there specific professional skills you wish you had more experience with?

4. Which job-related tasks make you feel the most uncertain or anxious?

5. What challenges have you faced in finding work or building a new career?

6. Looking back, what training do you wish was available when you left the group?

7. How has your previous environment affected your confidence in your abilities?

8. What support would help you feel more prepared for today’s job market?

9. Tell us about a situation where a missing skill held you back after leaving.

10. How do mental health or emotional challenges impact your ability to learn new skills?

Why open-ended? Because 60% of former cult members find reintegration tough, often because their experiences are unique and need context-rich support. [1]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for ex-cult member survey about skill gaps

Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you need quantifiable results or want to jumpstart a conversation. Sometimes it’s easier for the respondent to pick from short options instead of crafting long answers—especially if you’re covering sensitive or emotionally taxing topics. Once the conversation starts rolling, you can always dig deeper with well-placed follow-ups.

Question: Which area do you feel is your biggest skill gap right now?

• Computer and digital literacy

• Communication and teamwork

• Critical thinking/problem-solving

• Time management

• Other

Question: What’s your confidence level in your current workplace skills?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Not confident

• I’m not sure

Question: Have you ever avoided applying for a job because of a skill gap?

• Yes

• No

• I’m not sure

When to followup with "why?" When someone selects an option—especially one that surprises you—it pays to ask, “Why did you choose that?” For example, if someone selects “Not confident” as their workplace skill level, a follow-up like “What makes you feel less confident in your ability at work?” gives you the necessary context.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” when you’re not 100% certain you know every possible answer a respondent might have. The follow-up then invites them to explain—sometimes the most actionable insights come from these unexpected responses.

NPS question: Should you use it for ex-cult member skill gap surveys?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how likely someone is to recommend something to others—in this context, you might ask how likely ex-cult members are to recommend a support or training program to someone in a similar situation. This quick metric helps benchmark experiences and uncover broader sentiment.

If you want to try it, check out this NPS survey builder for ex-cult members and skill gaps.

NPS makes sense here as it quickly captures satisfaction with support resources. When paired with follow-ups, it offers qualitative depth—essential for groups facing skill gaps, stress, or mental health hurdles. In a world where 83% of organizations recognize skill gaps within their workforces [3], understanding satisfaction with upskilling resources helps target interventions that matter.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions take a survey from data collection to real conversation. If you want to understand exactly how, check out our article on AI-powered followup questions.

Specific uses AI to ask follow-ups in real time—tailored to each respondent’s answer and situation. These smart probes collect the context missed by standard forms, resulting in richer and more actionable insights. Having AI interview like a professional saves so much time; it prevents the need for manual email back-and-forth just to clarify an answer.

• Ex-cult member: “I’m not confident with computers.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share specific computer tasks that make you feel uneasy or would you like to learn?”

Without that follow-up, you’d be stuck guessing about critical needs—never a good thing, especially when 35% of employees already doubt their skill readiness in the workplace. [2]

How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2-3 well-placed follow-up questions are usually enough. You always want the option for respondents to skip to the next topic if they feel ready, and Specific lets you fine-tune this behavior in the settings.

This makes it a conversational survey, not just a Q&A form—respondents can engage as if chatting with an experienced counselor, increasing the quality and honesty of their answers.

AI survey analysis, response summaries, thematic insights: Even though these conversational surveys generate lots of unstructured responses, AI survey analysis (see our guide on analyzing survey responses with AI) means sorting through input is effortless and fast.

Automated, AI-powered follow-up questions are a new way to engage ex-cult members and capture their true voice—give it a try and see how naturally the conversation flows.

How to prompt ChatGPT or AI to generate better ex-cult member skill gaps surveys

If you like coming up with questions yourself (or with AI’s help), prompts make all the difference. Here’s how:

Start simple—ask:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about skill gaps.

But remember, the more context you give, the better the responses. Example:

I run a support program for ex-cult members and want to understand skill gaps that are affecting their job search or life after leaving a group. They often face confidence issues, lack digital literacy, and may deal with anxiety or PTSD. Please suggest 10 open-ended survey questions to help us support their reintegration.

Organize data by asking:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, zoom in on what matters most. Say you want to explore digital skills:

Generate 10 questions about digital or computer literacy for ex-cult member skill gap survey participants.

This approach makes your survey sharper and more targeted, surfacing the hidden obstacles people actually face.

What is a conversational survey—and why it works

Conversational surveys turn classic forms into living, chat-style interviews. With AI, you get:

• Higher engagement—people open up more in chat than on bland forms

• Smarter conversations—real-time follow-ups mean you get the full story

• Less manual work—you’re collecting and analyzing rich qualitative data automatically

Let’s compare:

If you’re ready to try it, the AI survey generator for ex-cult members about skill gaps is a great place to start. Or build your own from scratch using our AI survey builder.

Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys? AI survey examples and conversational approaches are especially helpful with sensitive issues. They reduce the pressure of a formal interview, allow for anonymity, and adapt to unexpected needs—while saving hours through built-in analysis tools. This is a big deal when dealing with emotionally complicated transitions like leaving a cult or religious group.

Specific offers the best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys on sensitive and nuanced topics, making feedback collection both smooth and deeply insightful for creator and participant. It’s easy to get started—see our full guide on how to create an ex-cult member skill gaps survey.

See this skill gaps survey example now

Get immediate insights, real conversation, and actionable skill gap data with an AI-powered, conversational survey. Start and see how much more information you can collect in less time—Specific makes it easy and engaging for everyone involved.