West Virginia boasts a well-skilled workforce ready to meet the demands of a strong economy.

In Wyoming, several industries are booming, escalating the need to certify workers’ competencies.

These two states are among the many across the country that have turned to ACT WorkKeys and the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) to help job seekers validate their workplace skills and help companies find qualified employees to fill positions.

Ashley Laughlin of Laramie, Wyoming, displays her gold-level career readiness certificate, which is a registered certificate verifiable in ACT’s database

WorkKeys assesses foundational skills common to the 19,000 job titles that ACT has profiled. ACT has done extensive research on these jobs to identify the essential skills and skill levels for employee selection, hiring, and training.

WorkForce West Virginia has teamed up with the West Virginia Department of Education and the Community and Technical College System of West Virginia to offer ACT WorkKeys assessments and NCRCs to individuals and job profiling services to employers at no cost.

Since 2008, West Virginia has issued more than 35,000 career readiness certificates— about 60 percent at the silver level. Four on-staff ACT-authorized job profilers—called business consultants—provide job profiling services to qualified employers. In 2011, the business consultants profiled 22 positions at 11 companies.

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (left) and Russell L. Fry, acting executive director of WorkForce West Virginia, display a sample National Career Readiness Certificate that West Virginia will soon be issuing.

Beth Carenbauer, director, Business Services and Human Resources, WorkForce West Virginia, said the NCRC is especially valuable for states like West Virginia that have had a historically strong manufacturing base.

“In our efforts to promote education and training for workers, the first thing we want to do is recognize their existing skills, and the NCRC does that very well. It demonstrates to employers that workers have the basic skills needed and the capability to learn more to perform the majority of jobs,” she said.

In Wyoming, the Department of Workforce Services, in partnership with the Governor’s Office, community colleges, the Department of Corrections, and Department of Education, started offering ACT WorkKeys statewide in July 2008. Workers pay for the tests, though some federal and state programs provide waivers to qualified individuals. The state has issued more than 4,500 certificates to date.

“We want employers to be confident that they are hiring the right people for their open positions,” said Stephanie Pyle, deputy administrator, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. “Because our state has several new areas of economic growth, we want to develop our workforce for companies that have been in Wyoming for a while and those that are expanding into the state.“