Arizona Career Readiness Credential

The ACRC equips Arizonans with the skills that our employers need.

We’re removing the barriers keeping Arizonans unemployed by creating a realistic upward path to quality employment.

The Arizona Career Readiness Credential Validates the Skills that Matter Most to Arizona Employers

A major initiative set forth by Governor Ducey in partnership with ARIZONA@WORK and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) makes the Arizona Career Readiness Credential available to job seekers across the state.  This tool prepares job seekers for success by demonstrating their command of seven skill areas that are relevant to every occupation, industry and career pathway across the state.

Existing research was coupled with input from hundreds of employers who participated in industry summits and strategy labs to identify three foundational academic skills and four personal and interpersonal skills that form the framework of the Arizona Career Readiness Credential:

• Applied Mathematics
• Reading for Information
• Workplace Data and Graphics
• Communicating Effectively
• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Professionalism
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Arizona’s employers have made it known that they have difficulty finding job candidates with the foundational academic, personal and technical skills needed to be successful, and this initiative was designed in direct response to those concerns.

Cultivating a Career Ready Arizona Workforce with the Academic and Employability Skills for Success

This career readiness program equips Arizona job seekers with the basic skills that our employers value.  The goal is to remove barriers that are keeping these Arizonans on the sidelines and give them a realistic path to the workforce. By looking for applicants with an Arizona Career Readiness Credential, employers are able to better connect to qualified candidates who are well-prepared for career success.

This career readiness program equips Arizona job seekers with the basic skills that our employers value.  The goal is to remove barriers that are keeping these Arizonans on the sidelines and give them a realistic path to the workforce. By looking for applicants with an Arizona Career Readiness Credential, employers are able to better connect to qualified candidates who are well-prepared for career success.

A Career Ready Resource for Arizona Job Seekers

There are four steps to earning the credential:

• The initial skills review – an unproctored “snapshot” of current skill levels indicates the job seeker’s readiness for the battery of high-stakes assessments.
• Career Readiness Courseware (CRC) is directly aligned to the three applied academic assessments and helps job seekers prepare for them.  It is a self-directed online system with instructional content, formative assessments, learning aids and summative assessments at each level.  Job seekers must successfully complete one level before moving on to the next.
• Employability Skills Courseware helps learners develop and demonstrate attitudes and behaviors that are critical to success at work. This curriculum is suitable for use in either a self-directed experience or as a series of workshops.  It is a critical component of a comprehensive approach to preparing students for success and providing future employers with workplace-ready candidates.
• The proctored assessments – Successful completion of all the assessments in a controlled, high-stakes environment results in the Arizona Career Readiness Credential.

Learn how your business can join as an employer partner, or visit an ARIZONA@WORK location to begin administering the ACRC.

Job Seekers – Prepare for Your Career with an ACRC

Are you looking for a better job? Did you know that Arizona employers are seeking qualified candidates in fields like healthcare, manufacturing, and construction?  Did you know that to begin a career in these high-value fields, you need to prove you bring the right skills to the job?

Employers – Support for Work Readiness

ACRC Tools Supporting Work Readiness

Looking for talent that have proven their command of the core employability and academic skills critical to success in jobs across our workforce?

We pre-qualify jobseekers for you!

• Employability skills like dependability, communications, resilience, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, attitude, and time management.
• Basic academic skills like applying mathematics in the real world; understanding workplace texts like memos, handbooks and MSDS; and interpreting workplace graphics and data like blueprints, flowcharts, and order forms.

The Arizona Career Readiness Credential validates these foundational skills that Arizona employers, like you, value most. Jobs seekers who hold this credential have passed four high stakes, proctored assessments that documents their understanding and application of skills and how they impact  employers. Those who have trouble passing those assessments can get needed instruction at no charge.

Recognizing the Arizona Career Readiness Credential here and ‘preferring’ it in your job postings will connect you to better qualified candidates and demonstrate to students and job seekers the necessity of developing these critical foundational skills.

Recognize the ACRC form

Join the hundreds of employers improving the Arizona workforce by recognizing the ACRC and encouraging workers to skill up. Recognizing the ACRC simply means you like the idea of job-seekers proving they have basic ‘soft’ and academic skills. It is not a formal endorsement.

ARIZONA@WORK partners with employers throughout the state to meet their workforce needs. With locally based services, we have the network to connect people and jobs. By helping businesses succeed and grow, we lay the groundwork for a stronger Arizona economy. And by sharing the solutions you need to find the right employees—right here, right now—we’re committed to real teamwork with you.