For Immediate Release: January 16, 2013
Contact: Carol Morgan
Telephone: (712) 242-2131
Printer Friendly PDF VersionSkilled Iowa Initiative: Providing Skilled Workers to Iowa Businesses
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA – A meeting will be held at the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, February 13th at 10:00 am regarding the Skilled Iowa Initiative. Speaker for this program will be Teresa Wahlert, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. Businesses and human resource professionals are encouraged to attend this meeting to learn how to incorporate Skilled Iowa Initiative components into their workplace. There is no fee to attend and refreshments will be served.
The Skilled Iowa Communities Initiative will improve the job training and marketability of Iowa’s workforce and drive future economic growth for the state. Similar initiatives throughout the country have changed the landscape of local economies through programs that incorporate this nationally recognized work-ready assessment system developed by ACT to measure individual workers’ skills in the areas of applied mathematics, reading for information and locating information.
“The Skilled Iowa Initiative is a critical step in improving the quality of the workforce in Iowa,” said Governor Terry Branstad when the initiative was announced in June 2012.
The program uses a universal testing system that rates the skills and abilities of those in Iowa’s workforce, awarding a National Career Readiness Certificate upon completion of the program. The NCRC is an effective measure of foundational skills and will help businesses confidently hire workers who are right for the job. It will help businesses evaluate an individual worker’s abilities, allowing for a more accurate matching of skill sets with those required by the job. There is no cost to Iowa businesses to use NCRC assessments as part of their hiring process.
In addition to the program at 10:00 am, Iowa Workforce Development in Council Bluffs is hosting an NCRC Testing Open House for Businesses to learn how these assessments can be applicable to their workplace. The three assessments are Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics and Locating Information. Businesses are invited to participate in hands-on testing of any of the three NCRC assessments from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm; IWD is located at 300 West Broadway, STE 13 in Council Bluffs.
For more information and to register for this session, contact Carol Morgan, IWD Business Marketing Specialist at (712) 242-2131 or carol.morgan@iwd.iowa.gov by Friday Feb 8th.
This session at the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce has been approved for 1.0 (General) recertification credit hours towards PHR, SPHR and GPHR through HRCI.
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