Where can I find the right staff and/or interns to hire?

Great question Krystal. There are three places that are the best:

1. LinkedIn - This is where the professionals are that are eager to work, are friends if friends and easy to reach through sending a post to your connections.

2. Universities - Reach out to the career centers. They will point you in the right directions. But note that they are hesitant to recommend interns with smaller companies, depending on the school.

3. Craigslist - It is inexpensive and reaches a large audience. Like all of the above, make sure you have a great hiring system to vet the best candidates.

Hope this helps! Reach out to me if you would like more assistance going through this process.

Coach David Brownlee
The Brownlee Group
DavidBrownlee dot com

The first step to attracting the right staff is to be very clear on what you are looking for. Explicitly state not only the job requirements, but the work ethic, personality, age, experience level and attitude of the team you want to build. Describe your "dream work day" - then describe the team that you need in place to manifest that description. Will they be working full-day, part-time, work in your office, etc. Also be very clear on budget and compensation plan. Will they be hourly, salary, work on commission, barter or a combination? The moment YOU get clear on your expectations and requirements, the faster your next steps will get clear.
In a grassroots operation, all staff members should take an active part in bringing in leads and sales. By creating a combination of salary and commission plans - hiring some additional help can be a win/win.

Rather than hire people I have found great success (and savings) using freelancers and outsourcing many projects. Companies like elance.com give you access to really good people at a fraction of what it would cost to bring them on staff. At the time you need to bring on full time people ...well thats a whole different question.

Depends a lot on what you need. What type of help you need, and what your expectations are for them. So, it is about Laying out the Roles you are looking for and I think he each could involve a different answer.

Th we best way to find interns is by going to http://www.internships.com/employer

I was able to recruit 6 interns with bachelor's and master's degrees by using their website. You can also recruit interns using Craigslist.com by posting a free listing in the gigs section.

In my experience, internships.com had higher quality candidates, but both sites were a good source for intern recruiting.

The problen with interns though is that you'll have to spend much of your time training them on the job duties, so it can be a little time consuming, but after they're fully trained, they work out really well and you can also offer them a paid position after their internship is complete.

As far as recruiting is concerned, LinkedIn would be my favorite source to search through resumes, and you can also post a job on Craigslist for about $25. Most other job recruiting sites are much more expensive than that and usually incur a monthy fee around $300-$600/month and sometimes more.

Colleges and universities are a great place to do some free recruitng, you can also talk to the department head and tell them about your job opportunity. Some colleges will direct you to actually create a company profile on their website and recruit from there and may even charge you a fee, but it's worth a shot.

I personally had much more success on LinkedIn and Craigslist than with the colleges, but if you meet a willing department head or professor, they may be able to help you out with some qualified candidates.

Also, odesk.com works pretty well if you don't need that person to be in the office with you. You can hire full time, part time, or just pay for the hours you need. If it's project based or flat fee pay, I would try using freelancer.com

Hope that helps, you're always welcome to pm me if you have any further questions.

Why are you looking on-line why not the local colleges, where are you located? I can help if you need it.

Certainly I am happy to provide any feedback to best assist you. I have not looked at your profile. What type of business are you attempting to staff? For what positions and purpose? The answer not only will allow me to address your question more directly, you may also find a few potentials right here. There are many here, on Linkedin and other professional networks for whom their current positions lack the proper environment for them to thrive to their full potential. Barring that, however with more specific information I may be able to direct you to environments you may not have thought of.

Look for someone with passion for the subject.

If someone loves what he or she does, the money isn´t an issue. Also he will be waking up with a smile and can´t wait to get the job done, which will make the person reliable.
So you are looking for someone with that qualification. It worked for wikipedia and here in this forum as well. ;)

The best place to find qualified interns at a reasonable cost is your local university. They all have career centers with a wealth of qualified undergrad and graduate students.

Hire only as many hours as you need. Use part-timers or virtual assistants. But go for quality and experience, even if it costs you a bit more per hour. "Reliable help" and "interns" do not fit in the same sentence.

But where? Looks like you're in the NYC area, which may mean scarcity of good people and expensive rates. How to find good people in a tight market?
1. Virtual assistants, who live anywhere but can do good work for you in well-defined areas. (My VA is in Colorado Springs.)
2. Parents, mostly mothers, with young kids, who need part-time work and schedule flexibility. They may be over-qualified but eager to work with you.
3. Somebody who's tired of commuting to Manhattan and working for a huge corporation. Accept less for a local commute.

Don't try to find one person who can do everything, but for several specialists who each handle a sliver of your needs.
This requires you to carefully define what you need done.