February Hire Results for Businesses

WorkKeys: A Primer for Businesses

A little history

When people hear the word ACT, visions of college applications and waiting by the mailbox for that all important acceptance letter may come to mind. Most people do not realize that ACT, Inc. is a leader in developing workforce development tools. The original American College Testing Program began in 1959 in response to the nation’s growing interest in higher education.

In 1996, the name was changed to ACT, Inc. to reflect the company’s expanded mission to not only assist students and institutions of higher education but to extend their services to the world of business and workforce development. In 2002, this division was further solidified with the restructuring of the company to reflect two distinct divisions: Education and Workforce Development.

WorkKeys Assessments

The Workforce Development division of ACT provides assessment tools for a variety of purposes. According to their web site, they provide tools to "evaluate individuals’ knowledge and skills, as well as the effectiveness of their (a business’) training programs." (http://www.act.org/aboutact/workdev.html) From using the assessments as screening tools for both hiring and promotion, the assessments from ACT provide a versatile tool for increasing productivity.

WorkKeys offers two series of assessments that evaluate several different skill sets: Foundational Skills include: Listening , Reading for Information, Writing, Applied Technology , Applied Mathematics , Locating Information , Observation, Teamwork.
The other set of assessments, which is newer, is called Personal Skills. The tests in the suite are described below and can be used to predict job performance.

Performance—Use this prescreening test to measure a job applicant's tendency toward unsafe behaviors and attitudes toward work.
Talent—Use it to predict characteristics such as cooperation, discipline, influence, and stability.
Fit—Find out job applicants' interests and values to determine the fit between a candidate and occupations in an organization.

The Jefferson County Workforce Center serves as an ACT educational site, and therefore is able to administer WorkKeys assessments on behalf of interested employers. Trained and certified workforce specialists administer these tests and follow strict guidelines for ensuring their validity.

Some Sample Questions

How relevant are the questions given on these assessments? Seeing is believing so take a look at this sample item from the Reading for Information assessment. This sample was taken directly from the WorkKeys site at http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/reading/sample3.html .

Sample Item

Based on the memo shown, starting next Monday, what is the greatest number of garbage cans each business is allowed to have?

A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 15
E. 30

Sample items from all the tests can viewed by accessing the link referenced above. As the item above illustrates, WorkKeys uses real workplace examples where, in this case, the importance of reading comprehension is emphasized.

Powerful Tool

From its early beginnings in 1959, ACT Inc. has grown into a worldwide organization that is dedicated to making the connections between workforce and education more fluid and meaningful. WorkKeys assessments are a powerful tool for businesses as they seek to recruit and retain highly skilled employees who enjoy their work and do it well. Visit www.workkeys.com to explore the wide variety of assessments available. Interested in speaking to someone locally? Contact Priscilla Bohl at 303-271- 4745 or pbohl@jeffco.us to find out how the Jefferson County Workforce Center can put WorkKeys to work for you and your business.