I'm a firm believer in the personal network. Finding qualified co-workers through friendship networks has been productive for me and anecdotes I hear usually s

I'm a firm believer in the personal network. Finding qualified co-workers through friendship networks has been productive for me and anecdotes I hear usually say this is a good approach. Asking about family when interviewing a candidate is inappropriate and illegal. Don't. Please do engage candidates about their current job, dream job, give that open-ended "what have you been working on lately that is really interesting to you" question that lets you find about what really drives them forward. <edit> we all should remember to skim the eeoc guidelines occasionally: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm