Montgomery County designated a ‘Skilled Iowa Community’ by state organization

Montgomery County can add another recognition to its list.
IowaWORKS recently announced that Montgomery County had reached “Skilled Iowa Community” status.
The Skilled Iowa Initiative is being used to test workers’ skill levels and help them find employers suited for them.
To be tested, a worker must take a national career readiness certificate. This certificate can be used on resumes and job applications. IowaWORKS is partnering with employers to see if they’ll recognize the certificate when looking through applications.
According to Hannah West, a business services representative with IowaWORKS, the certificate can be recognized nationwide.
“The Skilled Iowa Initiative is something that was put on by the governor about three years ago and the hope of it was to get support to take what’s called a national career readiness certificate,” West said. “The certificate is recognized nationwide, not just in Iowa. It’s something to show the skills of the workers and the skills of the people that live in the county.”
In order to qualify for Skilled Iowa Community status, 286 people were tested in Montgomery County. According to West, 199 of those tested were employed and 87 were unemployed.
The representative also said that 92 businesses in Montgomery County have signed a letter of commitment stating they will recognize the NCRC on an application.
According to West, those 92 businesses employ 862 people in the county.
West said the advantage to taking the test is for both workers and employers to see what skill level a person is at and what the expectations of a job should be.
“It’s kind of like the ACTs. So, you take the ACT and it shows you what level you should start out at in college. [It’s the] same thing,” West said. “You take the NCRC and it shows employers what level you’d be able to format for the company and what expectations are. It’s very work-related questions that it asks instead of those really hard calculus questions that we don’t use in the work place.”
IowaWorks is currently working to establish Skilled Iowa status for all counties in the state.
The state is split into 16 regions and the region Montgomery County is a part of has become the first to achieve Skilled Iowa status.
The region includes Montgomery, Adams, Adair, Taylor, Union, Clarke, Decatur and Ringgold counties, all of which are now recognized as Skilled Iowa communities.
For more information, visit skillediowa.org or portal.iowaworkforce.org/SkilledIowaLinks/70-1045_SkilledIowa_ProgramFlyer.pdf.