Max Messmer

Applicant tests are business tools meant to measure specific aspects or qualities of applicants’ skills, knowledge, experience, intellect, personality or psychological makeup. As a Human Recources professional, you should figure out what you want to find out about a candidate and then choose the appropriate test.

Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) can be a great tool for your business to use to track and manage employees and potential employees. Many systems include benefits administration and payroll administration systems. Benefits administration systems One of HR’s biggest challenges is overseeing the administrative complexities of a business’s benefits plan.

Employees can develop leadership abilities entirely on their own initiative. But it is more likely to happen if you create a comprehensive leadership development program. Like career development itself, identifying and nurturing potential leaders can prove central to your business’s success — and its future. To begin building a leadership development plan, consider the following questions: Do you have or anticipate any leadership gaps?

The job interview is perhaps your best opportunity to determine if a potential hire will succeed with your firm. But most applicants now have ready-made answers to standard questions such as "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Here are five questions that can help elicit more candid responses: "What interests you about this job, and what skills and strengths can you bring to it?

There's no substitute for the guidance of an attorney, but HR professionals need to have a basic understanding of the many legal issues and challenges that come with hiring and managing employees. Here are several important federal laws you should be aware of. Many states have enacted laws similar to those listed here, and some state laws provide more generous benefits and protections to employees than the federal counterpart.

Making your company a great place to work will help you attract — and keep — great employees. But creating an employee-friendly work environment involves more than just offering an attractive paycheck. Keep the following tips in mind to build an appealing and stimulating workplace: Invest in your employees. Offering a variety of training programs shows your workers that your firm is dedicated to helping them improve their skills and grow professionally.

When hiring, the résumé is your first contact with a job candidate. To get the most from this important document and determine if someone is worth calling in for an interview, you'll need to know how to read between the lines. Here are some telling characteristics. Signs of a solid résumé: Sufficient detail: Although you don't want an overly wordy résumé, you do want complete descriptions of the applicant's accomplishments in previous jobs and a sense of the skills she's gained over the course of her career.

Selecting the right test for an applicant to your business probably won’t be a problem because choices abound. Dozens of commercial test publishers collectively produce thousands of tests. You can find out about these tests by looking in two reference books — Tests in Print and Mental Measurements Yearbook, both published by the Buros Center for Testing.

Some businesses require candidates to take certain tests after being offered conditional employment. Be careful with these tests, though, as there are some laws that may influence what you can require. Personality and psychological tests What do they do? Measure certain personality characteristics, such as assertiveness, resiliency, temperament, or stability.