Certified Work Ready Communities: Using the National Career Readiness Certificate as a Tool to Filter Applicants

The recession officially ended years ago, yet here in Central Oregon unemployment rates remain persistently high. In an effort to address this issue, Central Oregon (Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson Counties) joined several other regions across the state to serve as a pilot for the Certified Work Ready Communities (CWRC) certificate program.

This program helps local communities better compete for new business opportunities and will demonstrate the region as one with a strong, qualified and willing workforce. One assessment available to job seekers and employers through the CWRC is the National Career Readiness Certificate.

Due to the high unemployment rate in Central Oregon counties, employers have a large group of job seekers to choose from; yet finding the right employee is no easy task. We have a relatively large labor pool of highly qualified candidates. Many vacancies receive an overwhelming number of applications making it difficult to identify the best person for the job. Employers have many ways of filtering applicants including educational attainment, work experience and licenses. However, one weakness of all these filters is their inability to gauge or measure basic skills, such as math and reading as well as soft skills (explained below). Even after an interview it is difficult to gauge an applicant’s personality, interpersonal skills, communication skills, critical thinking, and motivation. A new tool is now available to Central Oregon employers that can help find and retain the right person for that hard-to-fill position – the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC).

What is the NCRC?

The National Career Readiness Certificate provides a score or measure of an individual’s competency in different skill areas. The NCRC is comprised of three assessments developed by ACT. The tests measure real world job-related skills in mathematics, ability to locate information and reading for information. Many times it’s the soft skills that count – things like work discipline, teamwork, customer service, and managerial potential – which are measured in the NCRC Plus assessment. Upon completion of these free assessments, taken at any one of Central Oregon’s numerous WorkSource Centers, job seekers will be awarded a certificate that provides a score or measure of his/her individual’s competency in the different skill areas.

How do employers use the NCRC?

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the NCRC is its ability to match talent with work. The NCRC is an unbiased, proctored assessment of a job seeker’s skills. This type of assessment can be an invaluable tool in selecting the right person for the job and is a means of verifying that the job seeker has the skills they claim to possess. Can you always trust an applicant’s information provided on a cover letter or resume? The answer, is no. Even if someone has a college degree or twenty years of experience, does that mean they have the basic skills needed to fulfill the duties of the job? Not necessarily. In addition, the NCRC Plus assessment gives employers a guide to the soft skills of the job seeker, which can be almost impossible to gauge from an application, cover letter, resume, or even interview.

The job seeker does the work by taking the assessment and choosing to provide it to the employer. Due to its ability to efficiently measure work-related skills of the applicant, the NCRC is an invaluable tool for an employer’s Human Resources office and for hiring managers to help bring the best applicants to the surface.

The NCRC can be added as a preferred qualification on a job application similar to level of education or years of professional experience. The results from the NCRC used in conjunction with the results from an interview and recommendations as well as information from an application can help find and retain the right person for that hard-to-fill vacancy.

How do I get Involved?

If you are a job seeker contact your local WorkSource office to sign up for the free NCRC assessment. There are offices in Madras, Prineville, Redmond, and Bend. To locate your neighborhood office visit: http://www.worksourceoregon.org

If you are an Employer, all you need to do is:

1. Recognize the NCRC when applicants present one
2. Recommend the NCRC for applicants and/ or existing employees
3. Require the NCRC, if your company has completed a job profile

In addition, you can show your support of the Central Oregon Certified Work Ready Community Certification effort by visiting http://www.oregonworkready.com/ and signing up. You can also contact our Central Oregon CWRC/NCRC Program Manager Anya Petersen-Frey (Email: anya.m.petersen-frey@state.or.us / Phone: 541-388-6079) with any questions or comments. Stay tuned for updates and more information about this exciting program.