Although your experience and education largely define your career and your professional persona, sometimes a certification tucked into your title goes a long way toward being perceived as a leader or expert in your field. There are a few different certifications HR professionals can earn to increase their understanding of best practices, legal requirements, and ethics. Certifications also provide opportunities for you to engage with a professional community that shares your values and goals.

While earning certifications for educational and professional networking purposes is commendable, you’ll want to combine a meaningful educational experience with a certification that can boost your career and land you in a nice position to negotiate a raise. It’s a good idea to talk to your mentor or manager about what is well-recognized and valued by your peers and company leaders before dedicating the required hours and dollars. This roundup of HR certifications will provide a starting point for your research and your path to HR superstardom.

Too often, the human resource professional is so caught up in putting out daily fires that it can be difficult to take a big picture, 365-degree view of the industry. Taking the time to plan and prepare for the future is essential to a successful HR strategy long-term, and that’s why we sat down with two HR leaders to discuss their thoughts on the industry and the biggest opportunities for success and failure in 2018.

So you’ve got your business up and running and invested countless sleepless nights, skipped vacations, and forgot your own birthday to keep the dream of being a small business owner alive. You’re not alone. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 27.9 million small businesses in the U.S. and more are being added every year.

As you add employees, the complexity of your business grows, and regulations change with more people on the payroll. You soon realize you can’t wear all the hats forever. Now is the time to set a great HR foundation for your business.

Here are some general guidelines to help you think about when to use a consultancy, hire a full-time HR professional, and when you might need both!

What are your HR goals for 2018? Do you want to communicate better with employees? Recruit more talent? Offer more engaging training and content? Whatever size your company, a few more free tools in your toolbox could put you well on your way to reaching your goals this year!

We know that in your role, especially if your team is small, you likely wear many hats, from recruiter and trainer to compliance and governance. Below we’ve rounded up some of the most popular free tools and resources for HR professionals.