Right Skills Now (RSN) is a boot-camp-style training model that builds on the success of and demand for industry-recognized credentials and competency-based learning. ACT’s National Career Readiness Certificate is the foundational credential of this stackable program while NIMS credentials certify critical, in-demand metalworking skills. The result is a concise and comprehensive program that provides manufacturers with access to verified, skilled talent and a sustainable system for hiring the right individual.

When RSN is implemented at a community or technical college, students earn credit and embark on an internship while positioning themselves to enter the job market. RSN can also serve as a pre-apprenticeship program to usher in a new generation of trained, certified apprentices.

Key Principles of Right Skills Now

• Fast-Tracked, For-Credit Career Training – The accelerated route, using modular curriculum, allows individuals to gain credentials with immediate value.
• Industry Credentials with Value in the Workplace – This model allows students to transition to employment while continuing their studies and their accumulation of industry-recognized credentials and credit.
• Pathways to Advancement and Degrees – The hiring employers will emphasize the importance of workers continuing to achieve their educational goals while they are working to help them advance within their career pathway.

Credentials Earned Through Right Skills Now

• ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (covers locating information, applied mathematics, reading for information)
• NIMS CNC Mill Operations
• NIMS CNC Lathe Operations
• NIMS Job Planning, Benchwork & Layout
• NIMS Measurement, Materials & Safety

Pre-Apprenticeship Framework

Message to Employers

If productivity is critical to your bottom line, then developing a talent pipeline is one of the most important business innovations you can make. You need the right people with the right skills — right now. To answer that call, NIMS, The Manufacturing Institute, and ACT created the Right Skills Now program to bring just-in-time talent to manufacturers on a fast track.

RSN accelerates foundational employability and technical skills training from months to weeks — getting skilled talent to the shop floor even faster. This allows manufacturers to:

• Reduce or eliminate time afforded to unqualified or uninterested job candidates
• Compare job candidates more equitably
• Validate whether a potential hire has the knowledge and technical skills needed
• Reduce employee turnover
• Invest in a more qualified workforce to increase productivity and competitiveness
• Maintain consistent and regular HR practices through changing business climates

Getting Started

Interested in adopting the Right Skills Now program at your training location? Contact NIMS to learn more or view the Right Skills Now Implementation Guide.