Employers are increasingly concerned with ensuring that both potential and incumbent employees have the skills necessary to thrive in today’s workplace. More than 80 percent of all jobs are projected to require skills beyond those earned in high school by 2010.

For an executive contemplating moving a business to North Carolina, expanding an existing company, or even just sustaining operations in a fiercely competitive environment, the skill level of the available workforce is often a deciding factor. As a result, both job seekers and incumbent workers are increasingly called upon to demonstrate a more advanced set of skills -- or at least the ability to develop those skills through on-the-job training.

North Carolina’s Career Readiness Certification (CRC) is designed to meet the needs of both employers and job seekers in this transitioning economy. The Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) is an assessment-based credential that gives employers and career seekers a uniform measure of key workplace skills.

• For employers, the CRC offers a reliable means of determining whether a potential employee has the necessary literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills to be "job ready."

• For job seekers, the CRC serves as a portable credential that can be more meaningful to employers than a high school degree or a resume citing experience in a different job setting.

The CRC is based upon WorkKeys, a nationally recognized, skills assessment tool developed by ACT Inc.