Well, to start with, go look in a mirror and fire the first person you see. What is an asshole any way? Difficult to get on with? Racist? Right wing nut job? R

Well, to start with, go look in a mirror and fire the first person you see. What is an asshole any way? Difficult to get on with? Racist? Right wing nut job? Religious myth believer? Loner? What? All I know is that some of the best skilled and most productive people I have worked with have between called some thing similar by others. Well, screw them. If they have time to be slagging off skilled and productive workers for not coming up to their social standards, they sure as hell aren't being of any use to me. I think all you can do is test the skill set and take some decent amount of time to try to get to know the candidate. Then simply go with your guts. Plus, be prepared to fire the person if it turns out you are wrong. I trial period is always a good safety net, for both. BTW, how do you avoid working for an asshole? Much harder.