When she needs to hire someone, said Clinic Manager Janet Mossman of Pacific Family Medicine, she needs proof that they’re ready for the job.

Luckily for Mossman and her employer, Clatsop County is the most Certified Work Ready Community in the state of Oregon, through a combination of testing hundreds for employability and getting tens of local businesses to support a common set of employability standards.

When Mossman advertises positions, she states a preference for candidates with the National Career Readiness Certificate. The portable credential demonstrates achievement and a certain level of workplace employability skills in applied mathematics, and locating information, and reading for Information. The assessment for it was created by American College Testing (ACT) Inc., the company behind college readiness assessments.

“It makes you more efficient,” said Mossman, who’s hired two medical assistants and a receptionist who have a certificate. “If someone is not skilled in a certain fashion, they’re going to be slower to complete their tasks.

“In health care, it is critical thinking. You have to be able to comprehend higher-level correspondence.”

The certificate includes an online readout of scores available to a potential employer by code. Based on score, the certificates come in bronze, silver, gold and platinum, showing increasing levels of skill.

Astoria’s local WorkSource NW Oregon Employment Department office at 450 Marine Drive, Suite 110, oversees assessments for the work-readiness program in Clatsop County, which has met 96 percent of its goals. The WorkSource office tested and granted certificates to 453 people between Jan. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31 of this year, past its goal of 396.

The county, which has signed up 54 employers to support the certificate program, still needs 18 more to reach 100 percent of its goals. The businesses signed up include anything from Goodwill Industries, Hampton Lumber Mill and Fred Meyer to the Knappa Fire District, Shilo Inn Seaside and Da Yang Seafoods. Businesses can sign up to support the certificate at http://bit.ly/1uMMk94

“Employers can prefer the certificate, but they can’t screen entirely based on the certificate,” said Lynne Fuller, a business and employment specialist with WorkSource Oregon, describing the certificate like a cover letter or references. “We ask employees to include the assessment results. It gives them a step up.”

By visiting www.workinginoregon.org and clicking on the iMatch Skills tab, potential employees can register for free and practice online for the certificate test.

Joyce Aho, a manager of Astoria’s WorkSource Oregon office, said the agency will soon debut a similar assessment concerning soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, attitude and enthusiasm, critical thinking and professionalism.

For more information on the Certified Work Ready Community program and for progress reports by county, visit http://bit.ly/1utzU9P