Agencies: A good agency will be able to produce good talent in a short period of time. This is your best bet if the timing is critical, or if you don't have the time to invest in the various options that follow. This is also your most expensive option.
Newspaper ad: An old standby for years, newspaper ads are getting less and less common. Also, running a decent-sized ad several times can be quite pricey.
Certification schools: The same schools that train entry-level talent may offer advanced certification courses. Try them to see if they can connect you with experienced talent.
Job board, posting the position: There is a cost here with the bigger boards charging more money. You definitely get what you pay for in the way of exposure. You also get what you pay for in the number of responses. Expect to spend considerable time sifting through the responses. They will come in from all over the planet!
Job board, searching resumes: Rather than posting a position and waiting for replies, you can search the resumes people have posted. There is a wide array of talent posted on these boards. Expect to see more resumes on the more expensive boards. You should also expect to invest a lot of time reading resumes, so you should ask yourself how good a screener you are, how well you evaluate talent, and whether you have the time to give to this.
Certifications
Here, the adage, -You get what you pay for," holds true. You need to decide what certification is relevant for your work. If A+ is enough, that is a certification that is easy to find. MCSE, CCNA, MCP, and CISSP are much more extensive certifications, and people with those are harder to find. The decision you'll have to make is do you need experience, certification, or both? You pay more for both, but your business risk is lower.
Compensation
If you hire at an entry level, you may want to consider a compensation plan that ramps up over time to reflect the increase in your employee's value as they come up to speed. You may also want to offer a commission or bonus for bringing in new business. Whichever level you hire, one option to consider is that of hiring someone on a temporary/hourly or contract basis to try them out.
In the end, you are the only one who can decide which of the tradeoffs make the most sense for you and your business, whether it's the level staff you hire or how you choose to recruit. As a sole proprietor, you don't have a lot of time to give to recruitment or to training, but your financial situation may be a determining factor as well.
Remember, too, that you need to look beyond the obvious technical aptitude and business acumen to determine a candidate's work ethic as well. You can't afford to hire someone who will spend the day at the Dog Track while you're running all over town trying to drum up business. Interviewing for technical knowledge is a relatively straightforward process. Interviewing for work ethic is much more difficult and requires a lot of thought. It's well worth your time to read up on interviewing techniques, so you can ask the types of questions that will allow you to make the most informed decision. Then, you can proceed to your next challengeâ€"that of supervising your first technical employee.
