You should always try to not hire staff. Staff bring headaches and overheads.

Sometimes you simply must bring on help. You can’t do everything yourself or be everywhere yourself.

Be careful.

Bringing on the wrong staff can be expensive and hurt you. Company morale can be quickly damaged by a bad apple, especially in a small startup.

Don’t be flippant when hiring people. Start with writing up a strong job description.

Then stay clear of using recruiters and job-sites. Especially when you’re small. Rather rely on your social and professional network.

Interviewing applicants is not so much about finding stars, its about weeding out duds.

Here’s a red flag list:

1. People who talk too much.
2. People who try to play on negative emotions (guilt, fear, greed).
3. People who bad mouth other people.
4. People who blame others for their lot in life.
5. Bad manners.
6. No sense of humor.
7. Arrogance.
8. People who have not failed (everyone has failed, not everyone admits it).

The overriding rule comes from Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba:

Only hire people that smile. That way you’re guaranteed to have a happy company.