LUTCHER — St. James Parish Next25 will soon be presenting business and industry stakeholders with the benefits of using WorkKeys and the National Career Ready Certificate to build a sustainable workforce development approach that links education and employment, matches people to jobs and aligns with economic development.

St. James Parish is working towards becoming an ACT Work Ready Community, which parish leaders said provides business and industry in St. James Parish with an efficient, reliable way to identify skilled job candidates.

The skills assessment that helps employers select, hire, train, develop and retain a quality workforce is WorkKeys. This test measures foundational skills in applied math, analyzing workplace documents and understanding written information.

Employers, educators and job seekers have used WorkKeys for more than 20 years to help determine workplace skill levels.