To quote Seth Godin, "It only takes 10% effort to hire someone in the bottom 90% of the class." You've got a spot to fill, so you put out a classified advertising market wages. You get a bunch of resumes, do interviews and background checks, and you're done. Not very many, but other organizations put in so much more effort into their hiring process. They go out of their way to get the most qualified. They offer higher wages, and might spend even more to keep the employee and keep them happy.

Why do they go through all of that extra effort? If you only put 10% effort to hire someone and pay as little as you can get away with, the extra effort - and money - is not saved. The rest of that 90% will be spent dealing with problems both professional and personal. The money will be spent on fixing mistakes, or even hiring an extra person to help the first complete their work.

Seth's solution is to market a job opportunity like you would your products. Spending the extra money on marketing makes sense for your business. It also makes sense to spend that kind of money on attracting excellent people. After all, they are next in line for dealing with customers once your marketing works its magic. If you buy fine crystal, you don't want to cheap out on the shelf.

As you court these exceptional hires, show them how much you want them to be a part of your company. If they aren't local, set up conference calls for the interviews. Put their resume up in a web conference as you talk to them about it. Use video conferences to introduce them to their future bosses and co-workers. Incredibly, these aren't normal business hiring techniques. Their use will set you apart from your competition, and will be appreciated by your future employee as well.