The purpose of this inquiry was to examine whether current recruitment and training practices and policies in the Australian Public Service (APS) are adequate to meet the challenges the APS faces. Those challenges include: an ageing staff profile, with a significant proportion of the APS workforce expected to depart in the next few years; increased staff mobility, where employees expect to spend less time in individual agencies and in the APS generally; increased competition for skilled workers, with implications for the remuneration necessary to recruit and retain quality staff; erosion of the concept of a 'career service' and the attendant potential loss of corporate knowledge; lower recruitment and retention rates for young people, graduates and indigenous Australians; and growing demands from the workforce generally for more flexible work arrangements.