[dagw]

"Hire only the best." What if the best only want to work with the best pay and the most interesting work?

That's the interesting question. The hard choice, that I rarely see discussed, is what to do when "the best" won't work for you. Do you hire the "perfectly adequate" or do you not hire and not do that thing you want "the best" person to work on.

[chasd00]

one idea is to put your candidate out of their comfort zone and ask them to get their arms around something new. Try to figure out if they have a process for teaching and improving themself. Maybe if you can't hire the best you can find someone with the potential to be one of the best.

[PopeDotNinja]

I think the short answer if higher the best you can, commit to getting better, and hoping that is enough!