Area businesses are working with the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School to locate or train skilled workers for available jobs.

Coordinators at the vocational school have been developing the Work Keys workforce development program with area business leaders for the past two years. The program, which was founded by the American College Testing company nine years ago, helps employers screen potential employees and improve overall employee performance through training programs.

Work Keys offers job profiling, assessment and instructional support.

"The program is used locally to mesh what an employer needs with potential employees who have those skills," said Bev Hickam with the vocational school.

The Work Keys system designs training programs to help current employees meet their job demands and measure the qualifications of potential employees. Tests are available in up to eight skill areas, including reading, math, applied technology, listening and writing.

Abilities in teamwork, observation and locating information also are tested to assess ability.

"This program gives the industries a better feel for what's out there," said Skip Smallwood, business development executive with the AmerenUE economic development department. "We're out here trying to attract industries, and it helps our efforts in this area."

Diane Bauman said the program has been used successfully at M & W Packaging for the past year. Potential employees who successfully complete an interview are asked to be tested for specific job areas, she said. Those who score well are placed in positions that cater to their job skills. People who have successful interviews but do not test well may return to the vocational school for additional help to boost their scores.

"If they take the initiative to go back to vo-tech and work to get their Work Keys scores up, they can come back," said Bauman. "That's what the votech school is there for."

Despite national debates about the validity of work place testing, Bauman said the program is successful because tests are job-specific for M & W. Employees have assessed their jobs and detailed what skills are necessary, and the tests strongly correlate to those job descriptions, she said.

"We have validated tests, so we know they are job specific and feel very comfortable using them," said Bauman.

Six companies currently use the work development system. Vocational school instructors said they ultimately hope to see Work Keys expand to include the health care and customer service fields.

"It's applicable to any type of job," said assessment instructor Nancy Witvoet. "This program is so successful because it doesn't matter whether the position being profiled is professional, industrial, vocational or whatever. It works because we can link an individual to an employer who has a job opening for which the individual is qualified."