ACT Launches National Employability Standard with Career Readiness System

Workforce Credentialing System Identifies Skilled Employees and Applicants

September 27, 2006

IOWA CITY, Iowa—Business leaders in charge of hiring, training and promotions now have a way to recognize highly skilled job applicants and employees through the National Career Readiness System. ACT has launched the nationwide credentialing initiative, which identifies job seekers who have the essential foundational skills to succeed in the workplace. For current employees, it identifies the skills needed for promotions and greater productivity.

The basis of the National Career Readiness System is ACT's WorkKeys job skill assessments, which examine the essential foundational skills needed for virtually every occupation. For nearly two decades, WorkKeys has been used by more than 2,500 organizations for employee hiring and development. Companies that have used WorkKeys have seen reduced turnover among employees, as well as improved productivity and training efficiency.

"In the 1950s, ACT created a nationally recognized, standardized resource for college entrance. Now, we're doing the same thing for the workforce," said Richard L. Ferguson, CEO and chairman of ACT. "The health and growth of the workforce is dependent upon getting skilled workers into the right jobs. The National Career Readiness System is designed to help skilled job seekers connect with employers, and to help employees attain and highlight the skills needed for advancement."

The system includes several components:

The National Career Readiness Certificate, which can be obtained by getting qualifying scores on three WorkKeys exams: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information.
A "job and talent bank" registry that matches businesses that accept Career Readiness Certificates with recipients, as well as listings of jobs with the WorkKeys skill levels necessary for them.
Training to help users to boost their skill levels and obtain a certificate.
A MyWorkKeys website, which allows users to obtain certificates they've earned and share them with employers.

The certificate model currently is in operation in 10 states: Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia. These states—plus New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia—have already affiliated with the National Career Readiness System. The certificate acts as a portable credential that is recognizable by businesses across the country. It can also help economic developers by highlighting residents' skills in each region. More than 50,000 people have already qualified for a certificate, through regional initiatives.

By earning a National Career Readiness Certificate, individuals can demonstrate that they possess key foundational job skills that are needed for virtually every job. This gives the job seeker an advantage when applying for jobs, a complement to a diploma and resume. For employees already on the job, a certificate can demonstrate skills needed for a promotion or for training that leads to greater productivity and effectiveness.

The three skills necessary to attain a certificate were determined through years of ACT research. "ACT has analyzed the skills of more than 12,000 individual jobs since the inception of WorkKeys, and our findings indicate that these three skills are required for, and highly relevant to most jobs across the U.S.," Ferguson said.

Recipients are awarded certificates of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, depending on their assessed skill levels. The higher the skill levels, the more jobs for which the applicant qualifies. Bronze signifies that the recipient has the skills for approximately 35 percent of the 12,000 jobs profiled by WorkKeys. Silver signifies that the recipient possesses skills for approximately 65 percent of jobs profiled, and Gold signifies that a recipient possesses skills for 90 percent of jobs profiled.

Among the companies that accept certificates are Citigroup, Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, and Unilever.

"As we improve and apply new technology in chemical manufacturing, we face an increasing skills gap in new, and some incumbent workforces. A key factor in achieving those skills is ensuring that the future workforce has a high level of critical foundational skills that prepare them to learn the occupational skills that are critical for our work," said Harry Engelhardt, global director of manufacturing and engineering for The Dow Chemical Company. "We believe the National Career Readiness Certificate is an excellent way to ensure those skills are present in the current and future workforce of our nation."

The WorkKeys exams necessary to receive the certificate can be taken at hundreds of ACT partner organizations throughout the country.