As the "people people" or organizations, today's HR professionals work in a wide variety of capacities as mediators, mentors, job analysts, and career planners - to name a few. However, perhaps some of the most important and challenging functions of HR professionals are directly related to the recruitment, selection, training, and appraisal of the organization's employees (or potential employees as the case may be). It is up to HR manager or management team to create processes and methodologies in recruiting, training, and appraising its staff in such a way that it is congruent with the values, vision and culture of the organization.

This can be an enormous challenge - especially in today's business world where companies are constantly acquiring and merging together forming whole new identities at an exponential rate. In dealing w

It is my opinion that the strategic integration of the HR functions that have been discussed in this paper such as staffing, training, and performance management are not aligned in the sense of a linear relationship. In my mind, they are linked cyclically, with each function being a continuation of the previous function.

The selection process also usually involves, the initial sharing of information, filling out and application, initial interview, the administration of any tests, a final interview (or secondary interview with potential colleagues), reference checks, and then the final selection is made. Although the selection process varies in different organizations, the underlying framework is usually the same.

1. Administrative: includes promotional consideration, dismissal consideration, compensation, benchmarking and the ability to manage performance at all levels

Throughout the entire recruiting and selection processes, the HR professional must also use their intuition and consider the applicant using less "tangible" measurement methods, such as observing their mannerisms, understanding the applicants' personal values and beliefs and what their extra-curricular interests are. Although an applicant is judged more on his or her qualifications and skills, as a "selector", it is important for the HR professional to select someone whose values and beliefs are congruent with the company and who they feel would best "fit" within the culture of the organization.

Writing this paper and taking closer look at these specific HR functions has helped me to gain a better understanding of the many roles that the HR professional has to assume at any given time. It has also given me a greater appreciation for the underlying connectivity between all of the HR functions and how strongly they are linked.

The health of any organization depends on the development of its people. If indeed the greatest asset is its human resources, then it is even more vital that the organization allow for its HR professionals to invest time and energy into this vital planning function. As was stated earlier, the success of the HR professional in being an effective recruiter and selector is key in ultimately determining their success as a trainer, and the employees' success in becoming well-oriented with the philosophy, policies, procedures, and culture of the organization.

With the increase in popularity of job fairs, co-op programs and web-based career centers, recruiters are now equipped with the resources they need to seek out and entice the most qualified of applicants. At the same time, graduates and

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