News, Information and Media
Top 10 Competitive States of 2012
May 02, 2013
ACT is in the midst of a national effort to encourage states to gather and report data that will help them better address skills gaps that may exist — and that will better reflect to site selectors states' true work-force pros and cons.
Rogersville looks to bolster economic development via career testing
April 19, 2013
The city of Rogersville and members of the Rogersville Area Chamber of Commerce have both been talking with the Missouri Career Center in Springfield about becoming a work-ready community. Cynthia Collins, business services representative at the center, said the Missouri Work Ready initiative was put forward by Governor Jay Nixon in September 2012
Business Facilities 2013 Economic Development Awards
April 18, 2013
Today, more than 500 of the businesses directly impacted by the storm have reopened, retaining more than 4,500 jobs in Joplin that had been considered “at risk.” Jasper County, which includes Joplin, has been named Missouri’s first national ACT “Career Ready Certified” community...
Letter: Here’s more about work of the Workforce Investment Board
April 04, 2013
The Linn, Benton, Lincoln Workforce Investment Board (WIB), a business-led organization dedicated to developing work force skills to meet the needs of employers, has engaged in a significant effort this past year to align public work force development efforts in the region to meet these challenges.
The FIRST Career-Ready Community…Now What?
April 03, 2013
The certification means that Jasper County (and Newton is not far behind) has reached key thresholds in the number of existing workers, graduating students and businesses that participate in ACT’s Career-Ready Certification process. It’s a great start, but we need to keep up the effort and the interest.
Our View: Ready, willing and able
March 15, 2013
Bring on the jobs. Jasper County is ready. In fact, Jasper County is the first county in the nation participating in the national ACT Certified Work Ready Communities initiative to meet 100 percent of ACT’s criteria goals. Not far behind are an additional 13 Missouri counties on track to become fully certified within two years.
Unemployed Residents Land Jobs after Energy/Utilities Training
August 20, 2012
Twenty students completed this first portion of training, which ran for six weeks and focused on critical thinking, math, and applied technology skills and prepared them for pre-employment aptitude tests and the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC).
Hopkins County is Work Ready
July 12, 2012
Rhoads said that when an individual takes the series of written assessments, that individual is scored on three WorkKeys assessments: Applied Mathematics; Locating Information; and Reading for Information. Individuals scoring well are awarded a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC).
Helping our veterans find employment
June 15, 2012
Phillip Staffing branches use ACT WorkKeys to help veterans identify skills developed through years of service to our country that are useful to employers in the upstate of South Carolina.
Take the Guesswork Out of Finding a Job
May 10, 2012
"Identifying and training the right employee costs time and money to already strapped employers," said Martin Scaglione, President of the Workforce Development Division at ACT. "Job seekers who can document their skill levels to prospective employers before the interview process help increase their chance of success."
Workforce Development in northwest Illinois
April 05, 2012
The WDC is dedicated to continue to move forward with workforce-ready initiatives to respond to the needs of job seekers and employers so that northwest Illinois will retain and grow the businesses it already has and become an attractive place for new businesses.
Career boosts given
March 23, 2012
The Work Hard-Work Smart initiative, spearheaded by the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce & Industry, has helped more than 1,200 community members receive their National Career Readiness Certificate.
Job profilers to examine Wichita Falls, Vernon
March 07, 2012
The Work Hard-Work Smart initiative has arranged for ACT authorized job profilers to assess jobs in Wichita Falls and Vernon during the next couple of weeks in its pursuit to stimulate the regional economy, make local employers more successful, and get the unemployed and underemployed back to work.
They have the manpower, they just need the jobs
February 23, 2012
Governor Steve Beshear announced on Thursday that Daviess, Warren and Woodford counties have been certified as Kentucky's first-ever Work Ready Communities, and Russell County has achieved Work Ready Community in Progress status.
Community Colleges Front And Center Of Manufacturing Recovery
February 21, 2012
Even when unemployment was over 10 percent nationally last year, a survey conducted by the Manufacturing Institute found that two-thirds of manufacturing companies reported moderate-to-severe shortages of qualified workers to hire. That kind of training is the sweet spot for the country's 1,167 community colleges.
New SC program will try to match workers, employers
February 10, 2012
Gov. Nikki Haley outlined a new jobs-training program Thursday that, if enacted, would use data to match potential workers with businesses in every county. South Carolina is one of four states recently accepted into a pilot jobs project by ACT, a national nonprofit most known for its college readiness exam.
Showing our leaders what manufacturing is
February 03, 2012
During 2011, Hoffer added 18 employees whose reading skills and qualifications were certified by the WorkKeys assessment process, which Hoffer executives said helped them streamline the screening, interviewing and hiring process.
Creating jobs: What can a governor do?
January 30, 2012
In Kentucky, Beshear touted that his state was recently selected with three others to launch “Work Ready Communities” that ultimately hopes to certify that the workers are trained for the skills that employers need. The venture is sponsored by ACT Inc., the same organization that offers the college entrance exam of the same name.
Inaugural National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board Convenes in Washington
January 23, 2012
Today in the nation’s capital, a group of leaders from economic development, education, industry, nonprofit, public policy and workforce development assembled to discuss the state of the U.S. workforce and solutions for economic growth and competitiveness in the 21st Century.