1. First, evaluate where in your business a tech pro will fit best. Peel away your organization so you can get a clear sense of your needs. For example, do you need primarily a Web site developer and operator who could work off-site and on contract, an office fix-it techie who could be on-call or a programmer or network administrator who must be full time and based at your business?If you're not really sure what you need, strongly consider hiring a fee-based consultant to help you pinpoint pertinent issues and recommend a short- or long-term solution. (Interview consultant candidates as you would full-time job candidates.) "You need to identify and clearly define the technology deficiencies that exist in your organization, or specifically where improvements need to be made," says Jeff Supina, a principal at Dickson Allan, a Troy, Mich.-based information technology firm specializing in executive placement.

2. Make sure your hire can build a bridge. This is not as literal as it sounds. There are scads of technical wizards available, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their skills will apply to your business. Make an element of your hiring process an examination of what applicants have done in the past. From there, have them explain in detail how that was beneficial to their employer. "Ask them to talk about how past projects fit into the business. For instance, if they designed an inventory control system, why was that needed," says Stever Robbins of LeadershipDecisionworks Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., consultancy for technology leadership. "You need someone who will build a bridge between their technical skills and your needs."

3. Have candidates show you documentation of their work. Technology is terrific, but it's of significantly less value if you don't know how to use it -- or, for that matter, how it's put together. Make a point to have tech applicants show documentation from prior projects that explain how the system was built and how to use it. This addresses two fronts: Obviously, you or others within your firm need to know how to use the solution they implement.Moreover, there's no guarantee that the tech who designed what you use is going to stay on board forever. That means someone else will likely have to learn from the documentation left behind. In fact, Robbins knows of a company that wanted to can a tech person but couldn't because they had never asked him to draw up documentation. Translation: longevity via technical blackmail.

4. Make certain whoever you hire has people skills. Techs, the stereotype holds, toil away in solitude in dank basements. That may be great when everything is operating as it should. But a snafu crops up, you want to make sure your tech can work with others to assuage concerns and get things up and running. "Programmers who are great when a program is working are a dime a dozen," says Robbins. "Have them talk about a time when something went wrong. Not only do you want to know how what they built handled the problem, but know how they as a person handled it when things went wrong.”

5. Make sure your tech pro has broad expertise. Specialization can be effective, but you will likely need someone with a wide array of technical systems and philosophies. A focus of expertise with a particular product or platform can prove a problem should a tech be forced to cope with a machine or system with which he or she's not familiar. "If someone comes from one particular culture, it shapes their approach to problem solving," Robbins says. "The more with which they're familiar, the higher the quality of their solutions."

6. Map out your interviews strategically. Now that you've got an applicant pool -- via advertising or a recruiting agency -- don't just sashay into interviews and ask people to talk about themselves. Here are several specific tips to help ensure the most reliable interview process possible: