ACT Expands Workplace Solutions to Australia

wackerk

November 07, 2011

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT today announced an agreement with Navitas Workforce, a division of Navitas Ltd, to offer ACT WorkKeys® skills assessments and the International Career Readiness Certificate (ICRC) in five major cities across Australia beginning this month.

The International Career Readiness Certificate uses the identical practices and principles as the widely recognized National Career Readiness Certificate in the United Statesand is available in both English and Spanish. Navitas will offer the program in English. The three WorkKeys assessments that power both of these workplace skills credentials are Applied Mathematics, Locating Information and Reading for Information. Decades of ACT research have shown that the essential skills measured by these three assessments are necessary for virtually every occupation in today’s workplace. Individuals can earn a Certificate at one of four levels: Platinum is the highest level attainable, followed by Gold, Silver and Bronze. Navitas will establish WorkKeys testing centers in the five largest capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. The majority of Australians reside in these five metropolitan areas. “This is a significant expansion to an entirely new continent for our Workforce solutions,” stated Jon Whitmore, ACT CEO. “We are proud to partner with Navitas Workforce to offer our proven evidence-based assessments to measure skill levels and a credential that will document those skills for employers around the globe.” The Certificates offered by Navitas will be registered in ACT’s database, and each numbered Certificate can be verified on the ACT website. Whitmore continued, “Because the assessments required to earn an ICRC are identical in every English-speaking country of the world and identical to the National Career Readiness Certificate in the United States, multinational firms can be confident that a Silver-level Certificate earned in Sydney is exactly equivalent to the same level Certificate earned in the United States and in other English-language locations worldwide.”
As a large international education organization, Navitas seeks to expand the quality of its educational programs and outcomes for its students, particularly to enhance employment opportunities. “WorkKeys assessments and the International Career Readiness Certificate are independent measures providing objective information to our students and to our employers regarding an individual’s readiness for work,” stated Catherine Chaffey, general manager of Navitas Workforce Solutions. “Initially, all students enrolled in Navitas programs will be offered an opportunity to earn an ICRC to document their skill levels. In the first half of 2012, we plan to expand availability to additional individuals and to employers.” In addition to the three foundational skills assessments that support the ICRC, Navitas will offer WorkKeys cognitive skills assessments in Applied Technology, Business Writing and Workplace Observation, as well as all three of ACT’s soft skills assessments designed to predict workplace attitudes and behaviors. Chaffey added, “We believe these assessments and the ICRC will give our students an advantage when they are ready to seek employment. And, as we introduce these services to area employers across the largest metropolitan areas inAustralia, they will see the value in hiring credentialed individuals as contributors to their organization.” For more information on ACT’s workforce solutions:  act.org/workforce.