I am excited to announce the launch of a new feature of Skillmeter that allows recruiters to create programming/code tests to measure the “practical” skills of your candidates. Programming tests support a wide variety of languages like C#, C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, VB.NET.

Times are tough out there, and it seems that there are an ever growing number of people competing for an ever shrinking number of jobs. Many people send off CV's by the dozen, and rarely get to the interview stage...

I'm happy to announce you that starting now Skillmeter supports a new question type: Picture Choice.  Thanks to this improvement we raised at 7 the number of supported question types: Multiple choice with only one correct answer, Multiple choice with two or more correct answers, True/False, Ranking, Exact match, "Fill in the blank" / Essay, Picture Choice.

We've worked hard to improve Skillmeter with new features: we've added support for two new question types: ranking & exact match and we've improved the candidates notification with html support and added test duration.

If your job is to recruit the best talent for a company, have you considered the idea of social recruitment? This is the process of using the various social media you have at your disposal to increase awareness of your job offers and incite interest in the positions.

IT recruitment and hiring is one the rise and to say there is a strong demand for talent is an understatement. According to one recent survey, three quarters of CIOs plan to either fill vacant IT positions or expand their existing IT staff. It’s all about reaching candidates where they live, learning their behavior patterns, and understanding their trigger points.

Social media is changing the whole hiring and recruiting game. No longer do the classified sections, newspaper articles, or even listings websites like Idealist, Indeed, or Monster dictate the market on job recruitment information.

Often what is happening in the business world is reflected in the schools and vise-versa. The idea of online exams has been around for awhile, but with more and more state departments of education turning to this effective means of assessing students, businesses seem to be turning to this method to recruit the best potential candidates to their workforce as well.

It is common for companies to utilize testing as part of their employee selection process. These tests can include measurement of cognitive abilities, personality testing, abilities testing, background testing and more. This type of testing can be utilized by prospective employers as long as they are not discriminatory.

How long does it take you to identify the best candidate for a job?  What are the critical characteristics you search for when you are seeking talent for a specific niche?  How can you determine if a interviewee actually meets the qualifications required to even apply for the job?