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Time for cold, hard, truth from the hiring front: No one wants to be in personnel anymore. It has zero cachet. Given the dot-com mantra that the team makes the company, you'd think it would be a prized field. Yet we spent nine months looking for a recruiting manager. Time and again, qualified people said they'd rather take a step down and do something else than move up in the field.

So where did we find our man? (Hint: This isn't a pitch for hiring vets, though as an ex-Navy helicopter pilot, I have a soft spot for them.) The moral of the tale, my fellow entrepreneurs, is that it pays for both companies and candidates not to have rigid ideas about career paths.

About eight months ago, I had lunch with Mike, a nuclear engineer with the Navy who was getting his MBA at night at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Since I had taken a similar path, Mike sought me out. Mostly, we chatted about adjusting to civilian life, but we agreed to stay in touch.

And we did. Every few months, Mike and I would talk about his working for zipRealty, the online real-estate brokerage I run. Nothing serious, though. His commission didn't expire until spring.

FINDING A FIT. Fortunately, when Mike's commitment with the Navy ended, he was still interested in working for our company. We really liked him, yet nothing quite fit. The main problem was that his lack of experience in certain areas would have relegated him to entry-level roles that were clearly inappropriate for someone with his skills.

For days, I pored over the available openings to see what would work. I hated to let him slip away. It finally dawned on me: Mike would be a perfect recruiting manager. He was outgoing, smart, knew how to deal with people (he had been an admiral's assistant), and had a very strong technical background. Plus, it was the one open managerial position for which he was qualified.

Did I rush out and call him with my brilliant solution? Noooo. After having so many people dis our perfectly respectable opening, I was honestly afraid he'd be insulted -- and we might lose him for good. Everyone here agreed he'd be a great fit. The timing was perfect. How to approach him?

SUSPENSE. I decided to handle it myself. I invited Mike in for a long talk. Finally, I popped the question. Then I waited for him to run screaming out of the room. When I opened my eyes, he was still there. He quizzed me at length about the job, then went home to discuss the offer with his wife.

The management team was on tenterhooks. He was the person we'd been waiting for. Would he bite? Two days later, Mike came by. He started off by thanking me. My heart sank -- this usually is not a good sign. But, lo and behold, he seemed interested. He wanted to clarify some points, and then he'd need to talk to his wife again. I scrambled to get the answers. Mike left.

The next day, he signed on as our new recruiting manager, eager to take on the huge task of doubling the company's size in the next three months. It took the better part of a year to find him. I hope our next personnel hire doesn't take that long. The suspense just kills me. See you in two weeks.