Read a great (and funny) article on techcrunch (one of my favorite blogs) on hiring people. Even though the original author wasn't very tactful when he said "only hire people who are workaholics", to me it's actually a very good advice (see Michael's great elaboration on that point).
Even though it's about hiring people for a startup, it's also a good advice for big companies, if they want to remain competitive with these startup's. There are big companies that not only hire the wrong people, but worse, have a socialist compensation system where out-performers and average performers get the same reward, which lowers the bar in the organization rather than raising it. This is how startups have a chance against them...
I recently interviewed at UCSD (my alma mater) for Intuit; it brought back memories of my student days interviewing for jobs on campus. I remember some big companies not even asking any detailed technical questions for a technical position; the interviewer, not being an engineer, probably can't even ask it. Those interviews are the ones where if you don't get the offer, you don't even know why (at least after a technical interview, you kind of already know how you did). Then there were companies that ask technical questions, but at such a high level that any smooth talker can talk his way through. The best type of interview is the one that asks about both concepts and hands-on (coding) questions.
The tech industry is so competitive that any established company really has to remain vigilant (in terms of hiring, saving money, etc) to avoid being usurped by startups. Unfortunately few of them seem to be able to do that.
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