&gt; Definitely work with someone on a temporary contract basis, and renew it, before hiring<p>If you do this make sure you pay contract rates for the contract period or good people (at least in the dev world) will avoid you like the plague.<p>E.g. My contract rate is $120&#x2F;hr for contracts of 3 months or less whereas my full time salary is ~$120k&#x2F;year. If you try and offer me $60&#x2F;hr (120k &#x2F; 52 &#x2F; 40) I&#x27;m not even going to look at your job.