I Took the Florida Ready to Work Tests. Now What?

Karyn from Fleming Island, Florida wrote to us with this question:

 Q:  “I took the WorkKeys assessment this week and I am wondering how this can be sent to a potential employer?”

 A: Hi Karyn – that’s a great question. 

First, it’s important that you help educate your potential employer about the meaning and value of the assessments.  You took three assessments: Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information and Locating Information.

These three assessments were selected because 1) research shows that these three fundamental skills are necessary for more than 85 percent of all jobs today; and 2) these core skills are the basis for most other career readiness programs across the country, providing national portability.  What we actually measure is your ability to learn tasks associated with almost any job.  If you scored at least a 4 on each assessment, you can let your employer know that you have the foundational skills for 65 percent of jobs today – that’s any job, not just a job you’ve done before in another company.

 Here are some ways you can use your Florida Ready to Work certification.

•  You can add it to your resume.  It might fit into your Summary of Qualifications at the top of your resume, or in a category like “Special Skills” or “Other Qualifications.”   “My 5-4-5 score on the Florida Ready to Work assessments means that I have the basic skills to perform 65% of all jobs in Florida.”
• You can also use the score to see how well you match up to occupations you’re applying for. Work Keys, the assessments the Florida Ready to Work credential is based upon, have profiled thousands of jobs nationally. Occupational profiles identify the skill levels required for an occupation across jobs, companies, or industries.  At this link, http://www.act.org/workkeys/occuprof/ you can look up occupations and see what the required skill level is for the occupation (based on thousands of profiles.) Look for the AM (Applied Mathematics) LI (Locating Information) and RI (Reading for Information) to see how closely your skills match the occupation.  This is the assessment, by the way, that WorkSource uses to see if a candidate for a training scholarship will be able to succeed academically in a training program.
• You can also use the Florida Ready to Work system to improve your skills if your score was not a good match for the occupation you’re pursuing. After you’ve taken the assessments, the program provides free online Courseware.  The online Courseware can be accessed from any computer anywhere, anytime.  You can build skills toward the job you really want to have.
• You can print the certification from the PDF document you receive and attach it to your resume or cover letter.  Use the same language as above, or tease it (an old marketing technique.) “I invested three hours in taking the Florida Ready to Work assessments so I could understand my potential value to your company.  Would you agree to spend 30 minutes with me to learn it as well?”
• Finally, you can look for employers that already recognize the credential and use it in their applicant careening process.  You’re in luck here; Northeast Florida has more companies that recognize and use the credential than any other region in Florida.  You’ll find a list of Northeast Florida employer partners here: http://www.floridareadytowork.com/employerpartners/ .

 Best of luck in your job search.