I just came across this post and thought it might help poeple interested in recruiting programmers. You could take a look at http://blog.slickedit.com/?p=180.
The following points listed in the post are important when recruiting

When hiring, consider what you truly need in your candidates. Don’t fall into the trap of just listing all the technologies you use. Determine which can be learned on the job and which truly require experience.

Examine your interview process. How does each step specifically help you identify the kind of programmers you need? Are you properly balancing intrinsic and extrinsic abilities?

Get your most talented engineers involved with screening candidates. “It takes one to know one.” Great engineers may not be able to describe how to recognize another great engineer, but they know one when they interact with one. The time they spend interviewing candidates will pale in comparison to the time they spend fixing problems created by less capable programmers.