Experience shared at Conference suggested that the most suitable and thus the best candidates are not always readily available and that they are very considerate as to what they involve themselves in, such that they scrutinise the nature of work and the image of the organisation they join through recruitment. In the majority of cases, it is seen as an international phenomenon, that of the bashing of the bureaucracy by media, academics and politicians. So much negative tend to be said about the public service in the name of being transparent, but that which goes so far to a point of discouraging the best from joining the public service, such as public announcements of the salaries of public servants, more so if the reporting is negative, such as branding the public servants "fat cats" or branding them other negative tags. This was identified as the most demotivating factor for professionals preferring to take up employment with the Civil Service. They believe that once they accept job offers from the public service, they will be joining the club of those people who will always be at the receiving end without due consideration of the sacrifices they will make from time to time. What was identified as a common trend in the international arena accountable for these perceptions in the public service is the allegation that there is more negative reporting on the work of public servants than what they objectively deserve. However, there is no option that does not give rise to some sort of challenges that need to be addressed from time to time, thus, debates in the alternative strategy to the passive recruitment one are often characterised by perceptions of favouritism, nepotism and job reservations.