As an employer, you may hate having to recruit new staff. It is always a bit of a worry having to take on a new person, trust them with your clients and / or equipment and hope that they are going to be hard working and reliable. There is no way to guarantee this but if you follow an in deep interview and references process you should be able to find the best candidate for the job. If you are not happy with any of the candidates, then don’t think you cannot advertise the job again and wait a little longer to employ someone.
References are really important when taking on a new member of staff and often something that many employers simply do not obtain. You may not be able to get references at the interview stage as many people will not want you to contact their current employer until they have been able to hand their notice in (which is usually when you have offered them a job). What you can do though is either obtain one reference from a previous employer at interview stage and then from current employer after or make them a conditional job offer on the basis that their references check out.