The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on recruitment and selection (R&S) and to link what these different bodies of research reveal in terms of the relationship between employee selection and different strands of education and training policy and practice. The intention of the paper is not to offer a comprehensive literature review, but to act as a catalyst for trying to understand R&S as a process, rather than as a series of atomised strategies; and also to begin to move thinking forward on this important but neglected topic. In particular, the aim is to learn how far R&S impinges and impacts on general education and training policy debates.