Recruitment and selection practices in the private sector were examined through a literature review to identify strategies that human resource (HR) departments can use in designing new employee recruitment and selection processes or improving existing processes. The following were among the findings: (1) new employees recruited by using informal sources of recruitment such as employee referrals, rehires, and self-initiated walk-ins had a greater job survival within the organization than did new employees recruited through formal sources such as newspapers, radio advertisements, and posters; (2) small businesses tended to use more informal and unstructured recruitment and selection mechanisms than large organizations do; (3) job applicants did not have an adverse reaction toward organizations that administer personality inventories provided the inventories are applied in combination with ability tests during employee selection procedures; (4) different organizations preferred different selection strategies depending on the relative value they put on performance and minority representation at the organization; (5) for most positions requiring a college degree, organizations preferred hiring experienced people rather than new graduates; (6) some recruiters allowed personal biases to influence their selection decisions; and (7) female recruiters tended to evaluate female applicants more positively than male applicants, whereas male recruiters' evaluations were not influenced by sex similarities. (Contains 17 references.) (MN)