Career Readiness Certificates offered at Central Carolina CC
Mar 7, 2008

SANFORD – Want to be a “golden” prospect for a job – one who has the reading, math and problem-solving skills for 90 percent of jobs on the market? Get a “gold” skill-level North Carolina Career Readiness Certificate to show to prospective employers.

Want to hire a “golden” employee? Look for someone with a gold CRC.

A Career Readiness Certificate is a state and nationally recognized credential certifying a person’s assessed skill levels in the areas of applied math, reading for information and locating information.

“For individuals, the CRC is key to hiring and promotion,” said Pamela Gobel, state coordinator for N.C. Career Readiness Certification. “With CRC, employers gain a workforce with known skills. The CRC is building partnerships between economic development, industry and education. We’re creating a workforce-ready North Carolina.”

Gobel visited Central Carolina Community College Feb. 26-28 to launch the CRC at the college’s campuses in Lee, Harnett and Chatham counties. Career Readiness Certificate assessments, as well as training to prepare for them, are now available through the college’s Human Resources Development.

“Workforce development has always been the major thrust of Central Carolina Community College,” said Dr. Matt Garrett, Central Carolina president. “It’s always been about getting people trained to work. The CRC is a really great, new opportunity to help with that.”

He noted that there was an outstanding turnout at each presentation of industry representatives, county and city government leaders, directors of local employment security commissions, and vocational rehabilitation departments.

“It takes all of us working together to build the community by creating jobs and helping industry hire the right people,” he said.

The Career Readiness Certificate is based on ACT’s WorkKeys, a nationally recognized industry skills assessment system that includes job profiling, individual assessment and instructional support. Workers, or those seeking work or promotions, can take a series of assessments that demonstrate individual skill levels in the three areas tested for the Career Readiness Certificate: applied math, reading for information, and information location.

Based on the skills assessment, a person receives a gold, silver or bronze-level certificate stating the exact skill levels the person has in those areas. Gold means that the person has the assessed skill levels required in 90 percent of jobs; silver, skills required for 65 percent; and bronze, 35 percent. With a state CRC, a person can obtain a national CRC, recognized nationwide.

Those seeking work or promotions can take their certificates to prospective or current employers to verify that they have the literacy, math and problem-solving skill levels needed for a position.

The CRC saves employers time and costs by hiring workers who have the skill level needed. The CRC also has a statewide database which serves as an economic development tool by enabling industries to check, by geographic area, zip code, skill levels, and other criteria, exactly where the workers are who have the skill levels the industries need.

“The CRC will absolutely be useful to us,” Susan Clegg, Human Resources manager for Pentair Water, Pool and Spa, said following the presentation. “We get high turnover with new hires and I believe this will reduce it.”

The North Carolina Workforce Development Commission sponsors the CRC in partnership with the state Community College System, Workforce Development Boards, JobLink Career Centers, Employment Security Commission, and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Member schools of the North Carolina Community College System, which has the primary responsibility for workforce training, administer it. So far, 46 of the state’s 58 community colleges offer the CRC.

For more information on the Career Readiness Certificate at Central Carolina Community College, contact Phyllis Huff, director, Human Resources Development, (919) 776-7323, Ext. 31, or 1-800-682-8353. For general information about the CRC, go online to www.crcnc.org.