Glossary
Human Resources Specialist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential human resources specialist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key human resources specialist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in human resources specialist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ADA
- Americans with Disabilities Act: requires reasonable accommodations.
- At-will employment
- Employment that either party may end at any time for lawful reasons.
- ATS
- Applicant tracking system for managing recruiting.
- COBRA
- A federal law allowing continued health coverage after leaving a job.
- E-Verify
- An online federal system some employers use to confirm work eligibility.
- EEO
- Equal employment opportunity laws prohibiting discrimination.
- Exempt vs. non-exempt
- Whether an employee is exempt from overtime under the FLSA.
- FLSA
- Fair Labor Standards Act: sets minimum wage, overtime and exempt status rules.
- FMLA
- Family and Medical Leave Act: job-protected unpaid leave for eligible employees.
- Form I-9
- The federal form verifying identity and employment authorization for every new hire.
- HRIS
- Human resources information system for employee data.
- Offboarding
- The process when an employee leaves the organization.
- Onboarding
- The process of integrating a new hire into the organization.
- Open enrollment
- The annual period when employees choose benefits.
- Structured interview
- Asking all candidates the same job-related questions with a scoring rubric.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Human Resources Specialist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Human Resources Specialist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.