Oregon Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) Initiative Can Benefit Manufacturers

Ask most Oregon manufacturers about the search for qualified, trainable manufacturing employees, and they may tell you that it takes more than HR — it takes equal parts FBI and ESP. But, the Oregon Career Readiness Certificate (CRC), in affiliation with the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC), is at work to change that.
Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, in McMinnville, and Heinz Frozen Foods, in Ontario, are two of the nineteen Oregon employers that have embraced the CRC. The CRC offers them a tool for finding, training, and promoting the right employees. Each is the largest private employer in their local area. Each is considered a premium employer by jobseekers in their communities. At either company, when a job announcement is posted, their respective HR department is immediately flooded with applicants. The Oregon Career Ready system of job analysis, employee skill-building, assessment, training, and national credentialing is helping them take the guesswork out of hiring, and saving them time and money.
National data shows that the CRC can give participating employers a competitive-edge as it:

  • Reduces screening time – saving time by interviewing only the applicants with the skills required for a company’s jobs.
  • Reduces employee turnover – assisting employees in attaining precisely the skills they need to thrive and move up within an organization.
  • Reduces employee training costs – Saving money and time by targeting training and development budget on employees with skill gaps
  • Protects the bottom line with a comprehensive, legally compliant (EEOC, ADA, and ISO) solution developed by ACT for selection, promotion, recruitment and training.

Oregon manufacturers have already signed on as Employer Partner to the CRC because it verifies applicants’ foundational job skills AND complies with the EEOC Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, As Employer Partners, these businesses have committed to using the CRC as an element of their hiring, training, and promotion practices. Their need for stronger applicant pools and a legally-compliant solution to meet hiring and promotion requirements are a strong impetus. But, in the current economic climate, a growing part of the story is how the CRC helps with “career-laddering” for existing employees and with quickly sorting through mountains of applications to identify jobseekers with essential skills for success on the job.

Elaine Crawley, Career Readiness Coordinator for the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD) in Oregon, explains the CRC’s history in our state.

“The Oregon Career Readiness Certificate supports the strategic plans of the Governor, the Oregon Workforce Investment Board (OWIB), and the Oregon Business Council. Early funding for the program grew out of skill-building priorities supported by the OWIB.

The first project began when Lebanon High School wanted to use the CRC program. But they also wanted to make sure employers recognized the CRC and would ask for it, so it would have value to students,” she explains. “Without hesitation, 5 local manufacturers signed on as partners: Allann Bros Coffee, Oregon Freeze Dry, Palm Harbor Homes, Pennington Seed, and Weyerhaeuser Lumber Mills. From there it was a matter of pointing people on both ends to resources, like the formal job profiles and the skills assessment process.”

Since then, Oregon Career Ready has grown in scope. Sponsored by the State of Oregon, it is currently available at no cost to employers and jobseekers in selected areas. As Crawley explains it, businesses (such as manufacturers) can become partners to the CRC in three ways: they can recognize the CRC when applicants present it, they can specifically request and prefer it during hiring, training, and promotion processes, or they can require it as a qualification to get a job.

“The Oregon CRC program offers skills-building tools through the Worldwide Interactive Network, or WIN,” she says. “Users can self-learn, be coached through the online courses, or take classes offered at community colleges or workshops at WorkSource Oregon centers. They can even plug their CRC skills levels into the WIN network and be shown specific job titles they’re qualified for, or see what gaps exist in their skills in terms of qualifying for jobs they want.”
Oregon Career Ready is based on ACT’s WorkKeys® assessments that measure foundational job skills. To earn the credential, an individual must take three proctored assessments: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. These assessments are different than most others. They test the skills required for more than 85 percent of all jobs today, and offer workplace-based skills measurements that place incumbent or prospective workers on a common scale.
To learn more about Oregon Career Ready, or to become an Employer Partner for the Oregon CRC, contact:
Elaine Crawley, Coordinator for the Oregon Career Readiness Certificate
Community Colleges and Workforce Development
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, OR 97310-1300
503 378-8648 ext 291
Elaine.Crawley@state.or.us