Career readiness credential program prepares job seekers
Aresume is not always enough. A resume might show a job seeker’s work experience, but it might not indicate if the person knows how to communicate effectively, if he or she knows how to think critically and solve problems, or if the candidate can collaborate and work in a team.
A resume might also not indicate whether an applicant has the necessary skills to do the job, such as applied mathematics and understanding of data and graphics.
To help employers find a workready workforce, the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity has launched a credential program based on the skills that Arizona employers have said that they value the most.
Job seekers who hold the Arizona Career Readiness Credential are ready to work. They have passed three assessments in academic areas and a “situational judgment” assessment that validates their understanding of employability skills and how they impact businesses. And then Arizona@Works helps employers by connecting them to these qualified job seekers.
Trevor Stokes, workforce program manager with the Arizona Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, explained the program during a Nov. 7 meeting of the Southwest Arizona Human Resources Association in Yuma.
He pointed out some of the challenges in Arizona’s labor market, notably that there is a fundamental misalignment between industry employment needs, the skill set of the available workforce and the training provided by those commissioned to close this gap.
Consequently, at the governors request, a team from across state agencies will begin working on a “breakthrough” project to tackle this issue — and to dramatically reduce unemployment in the process.
More than 200 information technology employers offered perspectives on a IT career. They were asked: As you look at “young professionals” coming into Arizona IT workforce, what are they lacking?
The top answers didn’t include academic knowledge. They centered mostly around “soft skills,” such as real world application of skills, professional acumen, motivation, good judgment, strong communication skills, particularly verbal, and collaboration and customer service.
The employers were also asked what they saw as the most important IT skills that they should be supporting in this state. Again, after technical skills, they listed soft skills, including problem solving and critical and analytical thinking.
The team also met with 30 manufacturing employers and asked them what skills are more necessary now than they were 10 years ago. They listed, in order, computer skills, soft skills, collaboration and teamwork, communication skills, robotics and emerging technologies, and cross-training and adapting to change.
When asked what they thought would be more important 10 years from now, they listed, in order, communication skills, soft skills, cross-training and adapting to change, robotics and emerging technologies, and collaboration and teamwork. Computer skills didn’t even make the list.
The manufacturing employers were also asked to give reasons when someone in an entry-level position in their organization doesn’t work out. By a large margin, the top answer was attendance, followed by work ethic/effort and negative attitude. Work quality was rarely mentioned.
The result from these summits is the Arizona Career Readiness Credential for job seekers who demonstrate both career readiness skills, such as applied mathematics, workplace reading and understanding of workplace data and graphics, and employability skills, such as effective communication, professional, critical and problem solving, and teamwork and collaboration.
To assess employability skills, job seekers were asked how they would handle certain situations. For example, the office has instituted a new dress code policy. Every employee is now required to wear heavily starched shirts. Many employees are concerned about the increased costs of heavily starched shirts from the dry cleaners. Would they make a pact with the coworkers to boycott wearing the shirts? Would they tell their employer that the dress code policy is uncalled for and costs too much money? Would they wear the same starched shirt as a statement about the high laundry costs? Or