In times of higher unemployment, people are out there looking to enter the workforce. But you don’t want to hire just any worker …You want to find the right employee for your company. And chances are, in the past you’ve found the hiring process a frustrating exercise.

Consider the typical scenario: You place a classified ad in the newspaper for your open position and you receive a slew of applications. Out of those applicants, you only find a few you want to interview. After you conduct interviews, you’re not impressed, but are forced to make a decision because you need to hire someone, or so you think.

Too often, employers hire the wrong people out of a sense of urgency. As a result, they fall into the same pattern they’ve always used to seek employees, and they’re less than pleased with the results. Reliable workers are out there; you just have to know how to find them.

The key is to try a new approach. The following tips will enable you to find quality workers you can count on.

Seek seasoned employees

Companies often employ young, inexperienced workers, who sometimes think and act like they know it all. Having young, dynamic, and energetic people in your workforce is great. But you also need to have seasoned individuals with the knowledge and skills gained from years of experience.

If you need to hire help, don’t automatically go for a recent high school graduate for a driver or a college grad as a manager or sales representative. Instead, consider what you gain by hiring someone with years of experience. When you hire seasoned individuals, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. The experienced people take great pride in being asked to help develop younger workers, and young workers gain a great depth of knowledge from the seasoned employee.

Consider more than one job category

If you can’t seem to find the right person for the job, you may be looking for the wrong type of employees. Often employers automatically think they have to hire for full-time permanent positions. You need to get out of that mindset. Re-evaluate the position you’re hiring for. Is it really a permanent position? Do you really have enough work to justify bringing someone on full time? Might you be better off hiring part-time people, consultants or a virtual assistant? This evaluation could save your company a lot of money.

When you consider job categories besides full-time permanent, you can alleviate a financial burden for your company, and you may be able to bring in more creative individuals. Thinking you can only hire full-time permanent people limits your possibilities.

Don’t rush

It’s often a mistake to be in a hurry to fill an empty position. Slow down and analyze what needs to be done and what type of person you are looking for to join your team. Think of all of the possibilities. Can you move people around within your organization? Do any employees have crossover duties you can combine into one position? Maybe you’ll find that you can combine jobs previously done by two different people, thus freeing one of them for the position you are seeking to fill. Take the time to evaluate your needs and you might find the solution is not hiring anyone.

Consider a different demographic

Don’t forget about retirees and senior citizens. You can find a lot of talent in people who don’t want to work a lot, but have incredible experience. This group is likely not seeking full-time employment, so you may be able to hire them as part-time employees and save the expense of providing health insurance or retirement benefits. Older workers understand your expectations and know how to work hard.

Don’t hire from a piece of paper

You probably have a wish list in mind of exactly what skills and qualities you’re looking for in an employee. But you should look for a great attitude first. Always base your hiring decision on the person, not what’s on his or her job application. In the end, you will be better off hiring the person with the right attitude and only some of the skills you are looking for rather than someone with the right skills and the wrong attitude. You can always train for the job, but you can’t train for a good attitude.

Get demonstrated results

Before you hire someone, be sure you ask for demonstrated results. You don’t want to interview someone and have him talk about what he has done in the past and the type of results he attained. You want him to put the results in writing. You want to find out what he did to make a difference in his last job. For example, if you’re hiring a salesperson, you want to know how he increased sales at his last job by a certain percentage in a short period of time. Find out if the candidate has done what he claims. This will give you a better indication of whether he will be able to perform what you will be expecting.

Make the right decisions

You believe hiring good workers is difficult. But it doesn’t have to be. When you slow down, examine what you really need and approach the hiring process differently, you may be surprised how easy it can be to find the right talent. Qualified workers are out there; you just have to know how to find them.