A good friend of mine who is a professional in the Human Resources area has long had an issue with using credit histories as a way of culling the field for good personnel in many areas of employment outside the financial and security jobs. His take is that it inadvertently discriminates against those who were either not taught good financial skills growing up, got caught up in credit cards in college or having to pay back excessive student loans for their degreed programs, or have been laid off due to economic situations beyond their control and making the choice between food, shelter and clothing for their family have had to let their credit suffer.

It is too easy to pull a credit report and judge another person’s character based on a bunch of numbers compiled by someone else. As a financial person who deals with these reports I can tell you that they are wrong and misleading in many cases and, in my opinion, should not be used for employment purposes outside the financial sector and even then, the candidate should be able to address the credit situation with the potential employer. Many Americans are loosing the opportunity to get and maintain good paying jobs that they are qualified to do and that would help them get out of their current credit situations because of their current credit situations. Talking about kicking people while they’re down!

If you own a small business with 10 or more employees, chances are you have at least one worker who’s hired to manage others. Many small business owners make a big mistake when hiring a manager, perhaps failing to understand that management is as much an art as it is an ability to “control.” You’ll probably be making a big mistake if you hire someone who’s too much of a control freak. In fact, the most effective managers aren’t controlling at all. They are empowering, encouraging, structured and goal-oriented. They are able to inspire excellence and lead by example.

I recently worked with a entrepreneur who had no sense about how to hire good managers. His brilliance was confined to the left-brain, financial aspects of his grocery-related business. His warehouse manager talked down to people and showed signs of arrogance and entitlement. Employees resented him and talked behind his back. This manager was good at harsh order giving and unrealistic expectations, but clueless about how to build a positive, productive team. I convinced the owner to have a talk with this uppity manager. He talked directly to him about the problems in his management style, offered him further training and suggested several good books. Most importantly, the manager and owner came up with a mutually agreed upon performance contract that included new goals and a time table for the controlling manager.

Some employers give potential workers traditional IQ tests as a job screening tool. I might seem like a good way to create a pool of potential employers. However, I’m quite opposed it. Although research has shown that high intelligence can mean high job performance, it’s also been shown that traditional IQ tests fail to measure very important qualities and talents such as leadership, ethical capacity and social and emotional intelligence. A person who scores a little lower on a traditional IQ test could easily be gifted in areas that aren’t being tested.

If you want to test an employee, I recommend checking into tests that measure for aptitudes that are job related. Find tests, and they do exist, that pinpoint executive intelligence. They will help you find out how the potential employee is at task completion and the ability to judge oneself and others. The best tests show how an employee thinks on his or her feet. It’s important to find out how they make decisions and process information.

There are organizational psychologists and consultants that can help you identify and administer tests that will help. Those kinds of services can be expensive, but there are affordable tools available – books written on the subject and resources on the Internet. For example, Persuasion IQ.com gives free online tests that determine a worker’s ability to persuade others. Think about it. What IQ test could ever measure such ability?