Workforce readiness credentials demonstrate to businesses that potential employees have the skills needed to succeed.

By Diane Cadrain



At the crossroads where education meets employment, in community colleges and state one-stop centers, job seekers are flocking to work readiness certification programs. Employers value these work readiness or career readiness credentials because they document and verify that a job seeker has the skills and mind-set to perform either entry- or higher-level work. Job seekers want them because they prove that a person has the right academic and workplace competencies.

And money is available. The federal stimulus bill—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—has made more than $3.5 billion available for training. That money, says Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, will help dislocated workers "retool their skills and re-establish themselves in viable career paths."

Workforce readiness credentials provide jobless Americans with an opportunity to expand their skills and a demonstrable yardstick of their abilities and progress. For employers, many of whom say they can’t find enough qualified workers regardless of the nation’s economy, work readiness certifications help to bridge the gap between worker skill levels and the demand level for skills.

There are a number of programs where companies can look to find potential employees with the right skills, but a few programs dominate the field. Here’s a look at the most robust of them.

National Work Readiness Credential (NWRC)

This certification program, created by workforce development authorities in five jurisdictions (the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington), describes itself as a universal, transferable, portable national standard for work readiness. The NWRC is in use in 24 states, at sites varying from state labor departments to school districts, regional workforce boards and community colleges.

"Participation is increasing. We’re getting a lot of inquiries," says Joe Mizereck, executive director of the National Work Readiness Council, the organization overseeing and managing the use of the credential. He notes that "we’ve added 15 to 20 [testing and evaluation] sites" over a two- to three-month period.

The credential is appropriate for those who are entering the workforce for the first time, those returning to the workforce after some time away and those transitioning from one industry to another. It’s designed to develop the skills needed for typical entry-level jobs, defined as non-supervisory, non-professional positions for which one doesn’t need technical education beyond on-the-job training.

"The four test areas are math, reading, oral language and situational judgment. We test for reading and math in the context of business situations," explains Mizereck.

In the retail world, where customer service is crucial, Mizereck says, retailers like drug chain CVS and discount chain Dollar General value the NWRC for its ability to test for soft skills such as situational judgment.

"Situational judgment stresses the value of working on a team, of calling in sick when you can’t come to work," Mizereck explains. "Employers say, ‘If you can give us people with soft skills, we’ll train them.’ So we help people develop the soft skills."

National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)

Not to be confused with the National Work Readiness Credential, this certification program is a product of national testing organization ACT—known for its college testing programs—and is based on ACT’s WorkKeys system. It tests for core employability skills in three areas: reading for information, locating information and applied math. It also tests for work habits such as carefulness, cooperation, discipline and drive.

"Over half the states use WorkKeys to power their career readiness certification programs," says Martin Scaglione, president and COO of the ACT Workforce Development Division.

The process starts with job profiling, which involves looking at jobs, identifying tasks and doing an analysis of skills required to be successful at those tasks. "The profiling is a key component," says Scaglione.

Employer input starts there, as a certified job profiler from a local technical college works with company employees who are subject-matter experts in each job. Together, the profiler and employee experts work to define the tasks and skills needed to perform each job successfully. Once the job profiles are completed, the company has a tool to accurately describe to educators, students and job applicants the specific job skills needed.

"At this point ACT has 16,000 profiles, identifying tasks on jobs from baker to zookeeper, and covering 85 percent of all jobs today," says Scaglione. The WorkKeys tests result from the profiling process.

"Some states have their own names for the certificate—for example, Georgia calls it Georgia Work Ready, and Florida calls it Florida Ready to Work," Scaglione adds.

States that use the NCRC under their own state-specific names include, in addition to Florida and Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. States that use the NCRC under its own name include Alaska, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon (pending). Regardless of what name is used, the programs are functional equivalents.

State workforce development agencies typically administer the certification programs. In Georgia, for example, the Georgia Work Ready program is the keystone of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development.

Deborah Lyons, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, says business is booming at Georgia Work Ready. "We’re now giving out 5,000 certificates a month, compared to a more usual average of about 3,000. In the last 18 months, 53,000 were earned."

The program targets four groups: high school seniors, college and technical college students, the unemployed, and GED holders, says Lyons, and employers have a lot of input on the delivery of Georgia Work Ready training.

Applicant participation begins with administration of the Georgia Work Ready assessment, after which the test taker receives scores in applied mathematics, locating information and reading for information. Then a Georgia Work Ready administrator at a local technical college will administer "gap training"—a program that allows test takers to focus on the areas where they need to improve.

"On a regional level, we build strategies around particular industries," explains Lyons. "We get industry leaders to build the initiative. They identify high-demand jobs, identify the necessary training and build career pathways."

One example of Georgia Work Ready’s vigor is its bioscience initiative, a linking of education, workforce development and training to the needs of the bioscience industry, which, in a 13-county area of north central Georgia, includes entities such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, the University of Georgia, and a growing number of pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing companies. In that geographic area, Georgia Work Ready has produced specialized training programs to develop a skilled labor pool able to work in clinical, research and manufacturing jobs in the industry.

And the training and certification are transportable across state lines. "Everyone tested gets a number," says Lyons. "Employers go on the site, key in a number and get that person’s score. That person is in the national WorkKeys database."

In Michigan, which started using the credential through its local workforce agencies in July 2009, state workforce development officials are reaching out to employers to make sure that they understand the value of the credential.

"Employer involvement is a critical part of our strategy," says Keenan Wade, manager of the Business and Industry Training Section of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth. "They have to value it."

Workforce Skills Certification System (WSCS)

The WSCS is a product of Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS), a California-based organization that is also the creator of a number of other assessment tools. Originally created by a consortium of schools and employers in the Sacramento area, the WSCS is currently in use at the Seattle/King’s County Workforce Board in Washington state and at the Hartford Workforce Board in Connecticut.

The WSCS assesses basic skills in people who are functioning at the lower end of the skills continuum. Those who receive the certification are considered capable of passing a GED. Its target population includes people new to the workforce, incumbent workers and dislocated workers.

CASAS Program Director Jane Eguez says the WSCS complements the ACT WorkKeys program. "They measure different types of skills," says Eguez. "WorkKeys measures skills at a higher level. The WSCS is the beginning of the continuum, and the ACT test is at the end."

Workforce Alliance for Growth
In the Economy (WAGE)

This program only operates in Arkansas, but participation there is booming. "We’ve served 8 percent more students from March 1 to May 17, 2009, than in the same period last year, which equates to 511 students," says WAGE Coordinator Paige Cox. "Last year, we opened two new WAGE centers, one in Camden and one in Little Rock."

The WAGE program, which other states have studied, targets people new to the workforce and incumbent workers whose skills range from a sixth-grade to a 12th-grade level.

As with the other certification programs, employers customize the training, individually and on the local level.

"Our instructors go out into business and industry and do a ‘literacy task analysis,’ analyzing the skills needed to be successful on a particular job," says Cox. "Then they test employees’ current skill levels and customize the training."

In fact, Cox says, WAGE is so successful in Arkansas that a number of businesses there require WAGE certification and give WAGE certificate holders preference in hiring. "We’re providing the skills that business finds useful," says Cox. "WAGE participants are getting jobs."