Ray Van Dusen | Buy at photos.MonroeCountyJournal.com
Delores Basham, WIOA assistant at the Itawamba Community College WIN Job Center in Amory, helps Frederick Wicks get ready for his WorkKeys test.
By Ray Van Dusen
Monroe Journal
Just as cities and counties have to set themselves apart from global competitors to attract industry, individuals have to set themselves apart from highly skilled job applicants to land a job.
An evolving part of the process to even land an interview with certain employers is a three-hour test known as the WorkKeys.
“It’s an evaluation tool written by ACT, which roots it with a respected assessment agency. It’s not written to what you can do but what your learning capability is,” said Brad Gates, Itawamba Community College Workforce Innovations and Opportunities (WIOA) director. “It’s not designed on what job you can do but what you have the capability to do.”
Axiall, Tronox, Kemira, NauticStar and True Temper are Monroe County industries already using WorkKeys to find potential employees. Commutable industries like Mueller in Fulton, Yokohama in West Point and Toyota in Blue Springs use it as well.
According to Tronox Human Resources Generalist Penelope Blissett, there was a time when it just took a high school diploma, or its equivalence, and an application to land at interview. Now, there are multiple steps to employment beginning with a staffing company screening initial employers.
“WorkKeys helps improve the quality of the work force, and it shows what essential skills people have. It doesn’t mean if you make gold that you’re automatically going to get a job. We look at candidates and look at how they scored at each level,” Blissett said. “We also look at areas like team work, troubleshooting knowledge, strategic vision and being safety-oriented.”
WorkKeys, which doesn’t take the place of a high school diploma, includes timed sections on applied mathematics, reading for information and locating information.
The price is free for first-time testers for those taking it through ICC, thanks to a grant. Those who register for the test but don’t show will be charged $45 when they do take it and be placed on a “no show” list. People can retest for a cost per section.
People can score bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The lowest score in the three categories denotes what level a person is on the test, but remediation is available for each level. Those wanting to improve their scores can test on individual subjects rather than having to take the entire test again.
“It’s a good certification to have in a portfolio, especially for first-time job hunters,” said Pat Gladney, WIOA career coach at the ICC WIN Job Center in Amory, located at the Monroe County Government Complex. “It’s easy to walk in somewhere and hand in an application, but taking this shows discipline.”
A good tool in industrial recruitment
According to Area Development Survey of Site Selection standards used by industries wanting to locate in a community, availability of a labor force has ranked first twice in the past three years.
“WorkKeys is a means of qualifying the workforce across national standards. In the past, we talked about the number of high school graduates, but the issue with that is high school diplomas don’t have the same weight. WorkKeys is recognized across the nation, so it gives an apples to apples comparison,” said Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Director Skip Scaggs.
According to 2015 U.S. Census reports, Monroe County had an estimated population of 35,827 people. As of September 2016, the county ranked third in the number of WorkKeys test-takers in an eight-county area. Lee County, which has an estimated population of 85,300, ranked first. Lowndes County, which has an estimated 59,710 residents, ranked third.
Scaggs credits marketing to Monroe County’s high number of test-takers. GoMonroe.org, the chamber’s website, has a Workforce Pipleline link that offers career-readiness information about the test.