Of course, we all want to hire the best and the brightest, but when given a choice between Mr. Know-It-All and the guy who’s got a solid work ethic, a desire to learn your business, and the right attitude, choose the latter.

That’s why the most important trait you should look for is “cultural fit”. This term gets thrown around a lot, but what it boils down to is how well will this person get along with my other employees?

As you can imagine, that’s hard to figure out… you can’t just come out and ask them, because almost everyone is going to tell you what you want to hear.

But you can try to get the person into a more natural and relaxed state during the interview process. One way to do this is by conducting interviews over lunch in a more informal manner; your other employees can also join in for part of the time. This is your chance to watch and assess how the candidate interacts...