Business Beware: Do's and Don'ts of Hiring

There are more than 14 million people looking for work, and many could make good additions to your company.

But just because it's a buyer's market doesn't mean you should throw up a description on the job boards. Hiring someone is expensive. Landing a bad candidate can be disastrous. So, if you're in the enviable position of being able to hire, here are 10 things recruiters and HR experts say you need to keep in mind before and during an interview:

Know yourself: Hiring someone who will be a good fit means you first have to know what your business stands for and what its culture is. You'll need it to figure out whom you want to hire and also how you may need to adjust that culture when adding a new person. "When you've been a team of four or five people and you've been working together for five to 10 years, you take a lot for granted," says Heidrick & Struggles' partner Alex Alcott, who leads the investment bank sector in North America. "A new person has to learn all that. One person coming into a team can cause problems if they don't understand and fit the working style."

Conversely, if you have a unique corporate culture, it can be a powerful tool to woo the best and the brightest.

Get the job description right: Too often you have a set of tasks that need to be done so you think hiring someone to do them all is the answer. Wrong, says Kathleen Kurke of the Star Bridge Group. Those tasks may require conflicting personalities. So be realistic about what you want done.