CAREER TOOLBOX

Just What Are Work Keys?

Employers want and demand employees who can demonstrate that they are capable of handling complex tasks and new situations. Consequently, thousands of occupations across the United States have been profiled; that is, analyzed to determine minimum levels of skills required of employees in a given occupation. More and more companies are now using Work Keys as part of their employee selection criteria.

Work Keys measures skills in these eight workplace skills, all of which are in demand in the world of work:

• Applied Mathematics
• Applied Technology
• Listening
• Locating Information
• Observation
• Reading for Information
• Teamwork
• Writing

Competency levels in the eight workplace skills range from a low of 1 to a high of 7. Different workplace skills have different levels as follows:

• Listening and Writing levels range from a low of 1 to a high of 5.
• Teamwork, Observation, Locating Information and Applied Technology range from a low of  3
• Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics range from a low of 3 to a high of 7.

The Work Keys skill levels assigned to the careers on this website are minimum requirements based on occupations that have been thoroughly analyzed (or profiled), for specific careers. These minimum levels provide some evidence of the demands of the workplace in the Cedar Rapids area as well as nationwide.

Some careers on this web site have not been assigned Work Keys skill levels. This is because those occupations have not yet been profiled.

If you don’t know what your Work Keys skill levels are, ask your school counselor to help you determine your Work Keys proficiency levels. Once you know your Work Keys levels, you will be able to see in what areas you want to develop your skills even more.

Work Keys—find out more, click here.

Return to Career Toolbox Home Page