Ask IH - Best Practices for Hiring Contractors?

I have hired writers and devs in the past - depending on their skill is almost directly proportionate to how detailed the brief has to be.

Ie, the cheaper you are looking for, the more you will have to spell it out for them and the less creativity/freedom/decision making you will be able to give them.

Writers - Be sure to include the tone of voice you want them to write in, the type of spelling (US vs UK), whether you want first person third person or not, examples of statements they should or shouldn't make, broad topics you do and don't cover.

Give them a paid project first before committing to a longer term agreement.

Be on the look out for:
ability to follow simple directions ie spelling type
deliver on time
quality

Devs - again the less experience/quality dev you hire, the more details the brief will require.

Again test with a smaller project and look out for same as above plus communication.

Overall, the better quality candidates you can afford to hire, the less headaches you will have.

How do you find, attract, and retain talent?
The best ones you will find by searching for blogs about the things they would be interested in ie if you are looking for a writer for fishing in alaska, your best bet would be to find someone who has already written about fishing and approaching them, especially if you are looking for a contract writer.

If you are looking for a machine learning developer, look for ones that are actively writing / giving talks about the topic.

What criteria do you use when hiring?

Do they have the skills, do they fit the culture.

How do you interview?

Remote workers over skype, local in person.

What are some general best practices that you follow?

Have them come into the office with the team and see how they interact with the team.