How do you hire a quality employee?

With the state of the economy and the high unemployment rate, I have heard a lot of stuff lately about how to hire and how applicants can stand out in the hiring process.  I had a recent experience with hiring that has lead me to believe, firmly, that staffing agencies are the way to go.
We recently had an opening in our accounting department.  I thought this would be a relatively easy position to fill but that was not at all the case.  Our first finalist turned out to be under indictment for embezzling, a fact we would have discovered during the background check, but it was still a shocking discovery.  Our second candidate, we actually hired and employed for about 5 weeks.  She could not make it to work on time or even work an entire 40 hour work week…so disappointing.
Finally, we turned to Bargo & Associates, a local staffing agency.  Bargo provided us with 2 viable candidates immediately.  We interviewed both and made a decision quickly.  Bargo had already run background checks on both candidates and allowed us to lease the employee for up to 90 days.  This option allows a company the opportunity to see if the new employee is going to be able to get to work on time, dress acceptably and fit in with the company culture.
Our newest hire became official last month and we could not be happier.  Our Accounting Department supervisor has come to me on 2 separate occasions to say how very happy she is with the new team member. Thank goodness!
I went back and ran some numbers to discover that the billable time spent to sit through countless interviews not once, but twice, in addition to the training time spent with the original unsuccessful hire, was approximately $250 more than the cost to utilize a staffing agency.  Not to mention, that with a staffing agency, there is no cost to run a background check, you get the “try before you buy” option and the stress and anxiety levels are non-existent.
Quality employees list with staffing agencies for the same reasons (vetting, background checks, appropriate matching of companies and skill sets) companies utilize their services.  Thank you, Bargo & Associates.