Kentucky employers should be aware of this powerful new tool designed to reduce overhead through more effective and efficient screening of applicants for open positions. The Kentucky National Career Readiness Certificate (KY NCRC) is proven to also reduce the cost associated with turnover by helping employers make hiring and promotional decisions by having better insight into an applicant’s work readiness.
The KY NCRC, a product of ACT, demonstrates a person’s work-readiness level. Small and large businesses have experienced dramatic drops in turnover after using NCRC as a screening tool for many of their jobs. The objective insight provided into the job candidates helps make better hires, as well as spending less on training and retaining employees long term.
An employer may either require or prefer a NCRC. In order to require a NCRC or other WorkKeys assessments, the job must be profiled. For Employers who seek to prefer the NCRC as a condition of hire, it is recommended that the employer cross reference the desired WorkKeys assessments to the
O*NET code of the position to be filled:
http://profiles.keytrain.com/profile_search/.
To see what skills are tested for each certificate level, click on the level below:
Silver level
An individual achieving this level possesses core employability skills for approximately 65 percent of all profiled jobs.
Applied Mathematics
- Solve problems that require one or two operations.
- Multiply negative numbers.
- Calculate averages, simple ratios, simple proportions or rates using whole numbers and decimals.
- Add commonly known fractions, decimals or percentages (e.g., 1/2, .75, 25 percent).
- Add up to three fractions that share a common denominator.
- Multiply a mixed number by a whole number or decimal.
- Put the information in the right order before performing calculations.
Locating Information
- Find several pieces of information in one or two graphics.
- Understand how graphics are related to each other.
- Summarize information from one or two straightforward graphics.
- Identify trends shown in one or two straightforward graphics.
- Compare information and trends shown in one or two straightforward graphics.
Reading for Information
- Identify important details that may not be clearly stated.
- Use the reading material to figure out the meaning of words that are not defined.
- Apply instructions with several steps to a situation that is the same as the situation in the reading materials.
- Choose what to do when changing conditions call for a different action (if/then statements).
Gold level
An individual achieving this level possesses core employability skills for approximately 90 percent of all profiled jobs. In addition to the skills required for both Bronze and Silver certificates, Gold certification requires competence in the following areas:
Applied Mathematics
- Decide what information, calculations, or unit conversions to use to solve the problem.
- Look up a formula and perform single-step conversions within or between systems of measurement.
- Calculate using mixed units (e.g., 3.5 hours and four hours, 30 minutes).
- Divide negative numbers
- Find the best deal using one- and two-step calculations and then comparing results.
- Calculate perimeters and areas of basic shapes (rectangles and circles).
- Calculate percent discounts or markups.
Locating Information
- Sort through distracting information.
- Summarize information from one or more detailed graphics.
- Identify trends shown in one or more detailed or complicated graphics.
- Compare information and trends from one or more complicated graphics.
Reading for Information
- Determine the correct meaning of a word based on how the word is used.
- Identify the correct meaning of an acronym that is defined in the document.
- Identify the paraphrased definition of a technical term or jargon that is defined in the document.
- Apply technical terms and jargon and relate them to stated situations.
- Apply straightforward instructions to a new situation that is similar to the one described in the material.
- Apply complex instructions that include conditionals to situations described in the materials.
Platinum level
An individual achieving this level possesses core employability skills for approximately 99 percent of all profiled jobs. In addition to the skills required for both Silver and Gold certificates, Platinum certification requires competence in the following areas:
Applied Mathematics
- Solve straightforward, basic problems requiring mathematics operations; describe situations that require interchange of fractions, decimals, and percentages to make sense; and manipulate simple money and time units to provide services or information.
- Put information in the right order to solve problems requiring one- or two-step mathematics operations; and use averages, ratios, proportions, rates and fractions to describe situations and report information.
- Perform several steps of logic and calculations; decide how to solve a problem; look up and use the correct formula; identify a best deal; calculate percent discounts and markups; and solve two-dimensional geometric problems to describe and analyze work situations.
- Translate complex verbal to mathematical expressions, perform multistep calculations, convert between systems of measure, check for errors and solve two- and three-dimensional geometric problems to analyze and evaluate work situations.
Locating Information
- Find or fill in basic information in a simple bar graph, table or pie chart to comprehend work-related issues and problems.
- Find several pieces of information in straightforward charts, tables, and diagrams; summarize information; and identify trends in order to comprehend and analyze work-related issues and problems.
- Sort through distracting information to identify and compare trends in detailed tables, maps, instrument gauges, graphs and blueprints in order to analyze and interpret work situations.
- Apply information from complicated tables, diagrams, timelines and blueprints in order to draw conclusions and make decisions.
Reading for Information
- Read and understand concise work-related documents, such as memos and announcements, to follow instructions and apply basic rules and information to workplace situations.
- Read and understand work-related documents, such as procedures, policies and notices, to follow instructions and apply important details and conditional information to workplace situations.
- Read and understand work-related documents, such as technical manuals, to use the context to comprehend unfamiliar terms and jargon and to apply complex instructions to new workplace situations.
- Read and understand complex work-related documents, such as policies and regulatory materials, to analyze the rationale behind policies, generalize information to other circumstances and follow complicated procedures.
NOTE: Beginning June 1,
2017, ACT will be updating and renaming the core ACT WorkKeys assessments that
make up the NCRC. The updates include contemporary content and graphics that
are more engaging. Called NCRC 2.0, Reading for Information will be called
Workplace Documents; Applied Mathematics will be called Applied Math; and Locating
will be called Graphic Literacy. The current versions will become invalid on
Oct. 1, 2017.
How do employers complete a job profile?
To create a job profile, employers should contact the Kentucky Career Center or the certified job profiler at their local technical college. The job profile is created through a five-step process:
Creation of an initial task list: Companies provide their local profiler with a contact person to work with throughout the process, along with background information about the job to be profiled and a tour of the job site. The profiler then works with the company contact to develop a comprehensive task list for each job to be profiled.
Task analysis: The profiler meets with company subject matter experts (SME) - incumbent workers in the job being studied - who review and revise the list of job tasks to ensure the list accurately reflects the job.
Skill analysis: Profilers review skills with SMEs, who then determine which skills are relevant to the job being profiled. The resulting skill list outlines those skills that are necessary for entry into the job and effective performance on the job. The task and skill analysis requires a time commitment of approximately eight to 10 hours by the SMEs.
Documentation: Finally, profilers document the results in a customized Job Profile Report, which contains a list of the tasks most critical to job performance and correlating information on the skills and skill level requirements.
Hiring: job profiles are EEO-compliant. Once the profile is completed, employers gain a valuable tool to start matching candidates to their job openings and ensure they have the best talent for the job.
Contact
Joseph Paul, Joseph.Paul@ky.gov
NCRC coordinator
Office of Employment and Training
275 E. Main St., 2WA
Frankfort, KY 40621
502-564-7456
502-782-3035
Fax:
502-564-7452