Evolving Practices in Human Resource Management: Responses to a Changing World of Work

Key changes in the nature of organizational life challenge many of the bedrock assumptions of traditional recruitment and selection practices, thus threatening the viability of the practices themselves. In the traditional model, the supply of job seekers is plentiful, applicants are hired to perform specific jobs, and employees are expected (and expect) to move up in the organization in a predictable fashion and to remain with the organization for much of their careers (as long as they perform acceptably). Also, the functions of recruitment and selection are handled internally by the organization's human resource (HR) staff. In today's workplace, these conditions are far from universally true.

Current labor market conditions are varied and volatile. In some industries and occupations, the available workforce far exceeds the number of available positions, overwhelming the hiring organization with resumes to sort through and applications to evaluate. In other markets, qualified candidates are increasingly scarce and the primary difficulty for the organization lies in identifying, attracting, and retaining such individuals.

The terms and conditions of employment have also become variable and uncertain. Fewer employees are hired to perform specific tasks, with many selected on the basis of the range of things they can do or learn to do for the organization and some technical experts hired on the basis of a narrow set of skills. Similarly, at

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