Program tests for job skills

Jeanette Bush, 49, said it had been a while since she took a test.

Advertisement

"I'm nervous and afraid I won't pass," the Augusta resident said last week as she prepared to have her math and reading skills quizzed as part of Georgia Work Ready's testing program.

The initiative's WorkKeys test measures skills in three areas -- applied math, locating information and reading for information -- and is used by the state to help match employers to potential workers.

Bush said she was applying for a job with Solo Cup's Augusta plant and needed a passing grade to help her chances.

Several other test takers Friday said they also were applying for openings at Solo Cup.

More Augusta area employers have been using the free job profiling services the state provides, said Lisa Palmer, the vice president for economic development at Augusta Technical College, which administers the test.

Since the initiative launched four years ago, about 6,500 people have become "work certified" in Augusta Tech's five-county service area.

Testing is done on Augusta Tech's campus, in addition to the Georgia Department of Labor office downtown and occasionally at employer sites.

The program was launched in 2006 as a partnership between state government and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce with goals of improving job training and better marketing of the state's work force.

"The test assesses your ability to take the knowledge you have and how you apply that in the work environment," said Sue Parr, the president of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Palmer said the area is working to become a certified Work Ready Region. That achievement requires each county to complete benchmarks such as improving high school graduation rates, training the work force for more high-tech skills and transitioning workers into higher-skills jobs.

The area won a $400,000 grant this year that will help assess the community's economic strengths and provide some funding for GED testing.

"I saw this program as a good way to help real people find real jobs," said Annie Hunt Burris, who helped write the grant application and is special assistant to the president at Medical College of Georgia. "It would help an employer to know someone's real knowledge."

The job profiling system allows employers to see who might make a good match for them, and the testing allows workers to find out what their areas of strength are, Palmer said.

"Because of the economy, employers are getting so many more applicants per job than they were getting," she said.

One Augusta company, Prayon Inc., is featured on the state Work Ready Web site. The manufacturer requires all job candidates to receive Work Ready certification. Other area companies that have used the testing to hire include Thomson Plastics Inc., Augusta Newsprint and Asta Inc.

After completing and passing the test, Bush said it wasn't as bad as she feared, but she just wished she had had a little more time to prepare. "But overall, I think it's a good test," she said.