Job hunters in Iowa can make themselves more marketable using a new type of credential called a Career Readiness Certificate, or C-R-C. Kerry Koonce, at Iowa Workforce Development, says the C-R-C is an actual certificate which students and other potential job applicants can present and put on their resumes.
Koonce says: "The C-R-C is a program developed by A-C-T, out of Iowa City, and it’s a credential that gives employers and career seekers a uniform, standard, objective measure of key workplace skills. Applicants can test in three different areas and get certified at either a bronze, silver or gold level, based on the skills that they meet." Koonce says the C-R-C benefits folks on both sides of the equation — the employer and the hopeful employee.
"It gives employers an assurance they’re hiring the right person for the job and it gives the job seeker an edge to show, ‘I’ve already proved that I meet these skills by an assessment that you deemed to be the appropriate one,’ and they can present that now. The C-R-C program was first launched in Dubuque and Sioux City, and is now available in Des Moines.
Koonce says it will soon be on-line in Burlington and Council Bluffs. She says: "A lot of the employers are asking for this credential right up front when you submit your resume. We even have some that are going so far as in their advertising that says this is required or highly desirable when you submit your application." Koonce says it’s just one more assurance that a person is skilled and ready for the workplace.