1. Avoid hiring people simply because they can do what the job requires. Except when it comes to the payrole dept.

2. Always ask the question: "Is this person so good that they will be after my job next."

3. Don't dismiss people because they lack seniority or direct experience. Many of these people are remarkably talented. Yes, but probably at some non-work related thing.

4. Recruit talent and potential. Play down experience. Talent and potential is in the eye of the beholder - See (2)

5. The recruitment of talented women does much for an organisation. How else to fill the job that's doomed to fail.

Cirep G Nol, London,

Umm, haven't we had around 20 years or so of people being hired because they're "imaginative, talented, envelope-pushing go-getters" and tick all the right buzzword boxes, only to find out that actually experience - and common sense - are generally fairly essential qualities and the go-getting, envelope-pushing imagineers are pretty useless in a real-life work situation (they're great in marketing and PR, but for most of us those are about as far from real work as it's possible to get)? Oh, and why exactly are experience and talent seen as mutually exclusive?

Ruth, Salwa, Kuwait