We recently spoke with a business owner who used our site to find interns and part-time help. His business truly embraces the virtual model. He has a handful of full-time employees plus teams (and teams and teams) of part-time/freelancers and interns, many of whom work remotely.

He’s particularly interested in using Urban Interns because it uniquely offers users a chance to browse a database of candidates in addition to posting a job. This business owner prefers to ‘search’ as opposed to ‘post’ because he’s trying to find interns and part-time help who have a range of skills and will be an asset to his team. He’s not specifically focused on filling a discrete job description. He also has ongoing needs for part-time help and interns, as his business model is dependent on them.

This ‘pipeline’ approach to recruiting is a great one – and by the way, it’s exactly what large corporations do. Notwithstanding the limited time and financial resources that most business owners have when it comes to hiring, for anyone who wants to embrace this approach, here are a few tips:

• Start with skills: Broadly identify what it would take to be a success at your company. Must someone be social media savvy? Do they need to know a particular computer program? Should they be an incredible writer?

• Define Experience: Do you need an exact fit in experience or is it enough to have the relevant skills plus a little on the job training. For example, if you sense your company needs a bit of Public Relations ‘oomph’, do you want an intern who has done public relations internships before or is it enough for someone to be savvy about the area, have great communications skills and can think on their feet.

• Virtual or Local: It’s no longer a MUST for your intern or part-timer to be located in the same city as you. Tons of successful business relationships are formed between people in different cities or even countries! If you’re new to the concept of working virtually, you might prefer to identify possible interns or other candidates in your city. Or perhaps the opposite in true. In either case, this is one more way to think about monitoring the hiring market.

Now that you know what you’re looking for, what’s next? Commit some time on a weekly basis to your own personal recruiting. You’ll be doing yourself a favor the next time you need an extra hand and want to get someone on board quickly.