Over the past ten years recruitment of nurses has been relatively easy. Neither a great deal of effort nor man hours has been dedicated to the process. Quite clearly this will have to change. Thus, it is not just imaginative ideas which are required but an increase in investment of management time. Selling the organisation to prospective employees is an extremely costly business but clearly then, unless staff are available in sufficient numbers, caring for the sick, even at present-day levels, will not be achieved. If to this is added the ambitions for growth of services which are currently contained in every Health Authority's plans, it can be seen that the task is even greater than first imagined.