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Hire Work Ready Fact Sheet
Overview
To help Georgia small businesses defray the cost of on-the-job training, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development (GOWD) and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce launched a new outreach program called Hire Work Ready. Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) support, the program is designed to provide funding to small businesses – those employing 50 or fewer – that hire Work Ready Certified people to assist with costs associated with hiring and training new workers.
Benefits of Hire Work Ready include:
- Supporting Georgia’s small businesses by defraying hiring and training costs
- Creating demand among job seekers for earning a Work Ready Certificate
- Showcasing the benefits of hiring Work Ready Certified employees
Operations
Small businesses can apply for Hire Work Ready funding without ever leaving their place of business. The two-step process includes an on-line application on the Georgia Work Ready Web site (www.gaworkready.org) and a 30-minute informational conference call. Approved business owners will be provided with information on using Georgia Work Ready in their hiring process and be given access to an exclusive database of Work Ready Certified job seekers.
Small businesses will be eligible for $250 per certified Work Ready individual hired up to $1,250. GOWD estimates Hire Work Ready will encourage the hiring of 1,000 Work Ready Certified workers by as many as 400 firms.
Work Ready Initiative Overview
The Georgia Work Ready initiative was launched in August 2006 by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to improve the job training and marketability of Georgia's workforce and drive future economic growth for the state. This workforce development initiative assesses the "real world" skills of Georgia's workers, provides valuable job training and helps companies reliably match the right people with the right jobs.
To learn more about the Georgia Work Ready certification process and/or to sign up to test in Camden County, contact the Altamaha Technical College - Carol Weaver at (912) 322-8435 or visit www.gaworkready.org. Testing takes place on Tuesday evenings from 5-10 pm at the Altamaha Technical College located on the College of Coastal Georgia, Camden Campus in Room 144. Must make an appointment to take assessments.
Georgia Work Ready Initiative
Work Ready Certification
Through the Work Ready initiative, job seekers as well as workers currently employed in Georgia can pursue a Work Ready Certificate to help them better market their skills to current and future employers. As part of the certification process, individuals complete an assessment that utilizes the nationally accredited WorkKeys® assessment system developed by ACT to measure their core skills and work habits. Participating individuals then receive a Work Ready Certificate that indicates their level of work readiness based on their performance.
ü Core skills assessment measures skills in applied mathematics, reading for information and locating information, three skills that are highly important to the majority of jobs in the workplace.
ü Work habits assessment measures work-related attitudes and behaviors in areas that are trainable and coachable such as carefulness, cooperation, discipline and drive.
Work Ready Certification Benefits
Work Ready measures skills that employers consider essential to success on the job. Having a skills credential that is locally and nationally recognized facilitates job placement, retention and advancement. This assessment and certification process provides Georgians with an objective view of their talents and areas that need to be improved in order to maximize their chances of having a successful career. Other advantages include:
ü Building confidence that personal skills meet the needs of local employers
ü Ranking above other job applicants who have not demonstrated needed skills
ü Developing a better understanding of employers' requirements for job performance
ü Determining skill improvements and training opportunities
ü Realizing opportunities for career advancement and promotions
ü Demonstrating on a resume an understanding of the skills employers need
Work Ready Certification Process
Obtaining a Work Ready Certificate is free and easy. Once an individual has made the decision to pursue a Work Ready Certificate, there are three simple steps they can take to complete the process:
- Visit www.gaworkready.com and identify a location convenient to complete the free assessment. Assessments are offered through the state's 33 technical colleges of the Department of Technical and Adult Education and two Board of Regents schools with technical college divisions.
- Review the online schedule at your technical college and plan to take the Work Ready assessment. There are three components to the Work Ready Certification and each assessment takes approximately 50 minutes for a tolal time of about three hours. The Healthcare Assessment can also be taken for those intersted in the medical field.
- Use the Work Ready Certificate to demonstrate to potential employers that you are "Work Ready".
Work Ready Certificate Skill Levels
The Georgia Work Ready initiative uses assessment results to award certificates in four categories:
ü Platinum Level: Signifies an individual has scored at least a level 6 in each of the three core areas and has the necessary skills for 99 percent of the jobs in the WorkKeys database.
ü Gold Level: Signifies an individual has scored at least a level 5 in each of the three core areas and has the necessary skills for 90 percent of the jobs in the WorkKeys database.
ü Silver Level: Signifies an individual has scored at least a level 4 in each of the three core areas and has the necessary skills for 65 percent of the jobs in the WorkKeys database.
ü Bronze Level: Signifies that an individual has scored at least a level 3 in each of the three core areas and has the necessary skills for 35 percent of the jobs in the WorkKeys database.
Your lowest score determines your overall certificate level, so focusing on your weakest area is a quick way to improve your level. For individuals who want to improve their scores and gain a higher-level certificate, free online gap training is available through the College of Coastal Georgia, Camden Campus to help them accomplish their goals.
For more information
To learn more about the Georgia Work Ready certification process and/or to sign up to test in Camden County, contact the Altamaha Technical College - Carol Weaver at (912) 322-8435 or visit www.gaworkready.org. Testing takes place on Tuesday evenings from 5-10 pm at the Altamaha Technical College located on the College of Coastal Georgia, Camden Campus in Room 144. Must make an appointment to take assessments.
Georgia Work Ready Initiative Q&A
What is the Certified Work Ready Community designation?
Just as Georgia's Work Ready Certificate provides individuals a means to demonstrate their skills to current and potential employers, the Certified Work Ready Community initiative enables entire communities to showcase their ability to staff both existing and new industry.
How is Certified Work Ready Community status determined?
Counties that demonstrate a commitment to improving public high school graduation rates and where specified percentages of graduates enter the workplace, or current workers and the unemployed obtain a Work Ready Certificate, will be designated Georgia Certified Work Ready Communities.
What are the benchmarks for Certified Work Ready Community status?
§ A commitment to improving public high school graduation rates:
o A minimum 70 percent public high school graduation rate is required to become a Certified Work Ready Community of Excellence
o For all counties, there are public high school graduate rate increase benchmarks to earn Certified Work Ready Community status available at www.gaworkready.org under Economic Development
§ Achievement of Work Ready Certification levels among adults:
o Existing workforce: 3 percent
o Available workforce: 25 percent
How does an individual earn a Work Ready Certificate?
Utilizing the nationally accredited WorkKeys assessment system developed by ACT, individuals can complete a Georgia Work Ready assessment at no charge at Work Ready Centers located at technical colleges across the state. To obtain a Work Ready Certificate, job seekers must complete a test of skills in applied mathematics, locating information and reading for information. After successfully completing the assessment, individuals receive a Georgia Work Ready Certificate and a portfolio identifying the skill levels they have demonstrated. That skill level can be matched to jobs throughout the state.
What happens if the assessment score does not meet the requirements of a certain type of job?
For those seeking to improve their assessment scores, online gap training is available at no cost via the Work Ready Centers at Georgia's technical colleges. Instructor-led classes are also available for $150 per class. Once training is completed, individuals can retake the assessment. Assessments can be retaken up to three times at no charge.
What incentive is there for someone who has a job to become Work Ready Certified?
Earning a Work Ready Certificate can help those currently employed earn promotions, better adapt to changing work environments or find gaps in their knowledge and obtain, at not cost, training to help them reach the next level in their career.
How many Georgia workers currently have achieved a Work Ready certificate?
To date, more than 8,100 Georgians have completed the assessment and hold Georgia Work Ready Certificates. Our goal is to have 25,000 Georgians earn a Work Ready Certificate each year.
Is the Work Ready assessment available to non-English speaking workers?
ACT does not currently offer the assessment in Spanish and does not endorse using the assessment tool for non-English speakers.
How long does it take to earn Certified Work Ready Community status?
Counties have up to three years to complete the certification process.
How can my community track progress in earning the Certified Work Ready Community designation?
Monthly county status reports will be issued for all counties. Team leaders will be given the link to access this information on the Web site to share with county teams.
Who is involved in the process of becoming a Certified Work Ready Community?
Everyone is a partner in workforce development & education, business, economic development and individuals' with a common, strategic vision to prepare Georgia and its citizens for the future.
How can I get involved in earning Certified Work Ready Community status?
Contact your local chamber of commerce or technical college for information on how you can help your community become Certified Work Ready.
How can the Certified Work Ready Community be used?
In economic development, Certified Work Ready Community status is a means of demonstrating that the community's existing labor force can fill existing job vacancies and meet changing business needs.
How does the Certified Work Ready Community designation fit with the state?s other programs, like Quick Start?
The Work Ready initiative focuses on building foundational skills that workers need for success in a wide variety of jobs. Additionally, Work Ready supports longer-term educational opportunities by promoting gap training, work habits training and life-long learning opportunities. Other workforce development programs, such as Quick Start, provide short-term training for customized skills required by specific companies and industry sectors. These programs fit together to supply companies with workers who have solid, foundational skills of benefit to longer-term employment and the specialty skills needed for success in specific jobs today.
What companies are currently including the Work Ready Certification in hiring criteria?
Georgia Power, Bayer Crop Science, Camden County Fire and Emergency Rescue and Edward Jones.
What are the benefits of earning Certified Work Ready Community status?
The ability to promote your community as Work Ready will assist in attracting new business and preserving the health of your area's existing economic base. Certified Work Ready Communities can guarantee workers have the talent necessary for existing jobs and the skills to master the innovative technologies tomorrow's jobs will require. And, by ensuring citizens have the skills to obtain quality jobs, Certified Work Ready Communities will enjoy an increased tax based, decreased unemployment and improved quality of life.
How does Work Ready help Georgia differentiate itself from our economic development competition?
The Work Ready initiative, built in partnership with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, is unique in that we not only provide free assessments and certification for our workers, but the state provides gap training to help workers meet their employment goals. Georgia is the only state with a platinum level of certification - indicating the individual possesses high-level skills appropriate to the most cutting-edge workplaces. Work Ready also provides free job profiling services to companies that meet minimum hiring criteria to ensure their jobs correlate to workers? talents.
How can Georgia companies qualify for free job profiling services?
To access free job profiling services, companies must be hiring a minimum of 15 positions per year. (25 per year in the service sector.) Through job profiling, organizations can analyze the skills needed for specific jobs and then describe those needs to educators, students and other job applicants. Typically, job profiles cost approximately $1,500 each.
How can a Georgia company use the job profile for hiring?
Job profiles match the skills required to successfully perform a job with a corresponding Work Ready Certificate level. Georgia companies can include the appropriate Work Ready Certification level in their hiring criteria as a means to ensure applicants possess the appropriate skills.
How can a Georgia company use a Work Ready Certificate if they do not have a job profiled?
There have been more than 13,000 jobs profiled by ACT WorkKeys and more than 400 occupations aligned to the Work Ready Certificate outcomes. Companies may use previous job and occupation profile information to gain an understanding of what the assessment outcomes mean relative to other, similar jobs and occupations. However, because of the uniqueness of each job, companies are encouraged to contact their local technical colleges to get more information on using Work Ready for their human resource needs.
What are the benefits Georgia companies will receive from participation in the Work Ready program?
Companies that use the Georgia Work Ready Certificate program to assess their incoming and current workforce can achieve substantial benefits, including improved hiring procedures, reduced turnover and training costs, increased productivity and higher employee morale.
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