Over the course of my 40-plus years in radio, I have hired a significant number of people. But there is one specific hire that was unlike any other. 

It was late one Friday night, and I had just moved into a new office building. I had recently offered my listeners that if anyone sent me one of my books with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, I would personalize it, sign it, and send it back to them. Well, either I didn't think it through or didn't realize this would be a popular thing, but every day we had hundreds of books coming in.  

So there I was, signing books and putting them in envelopes on a Friday night in a strange new building after everyone else had gone home. 

Suddenly, this person who I had never seen before popped their head into the room and asked if they could help.  I looked around the room at the 200 books I still had to sign, and I gave a hearty, "Yes please!" 

So we set up an assembly line - this person (who will remain genderless) would open the book, I'd sign it, and they'd put it into the envelope. We took care of all the books in no time. 

At one point, the phone rang. Since I had just moved into the office, there were boxes strewn everywhere and I couldn't find the phone. It was like a scene out of a comedy movie as we both frantically looked around the room for the source of the ringing. Finally, this person found the phone and answered it, "Dr. Laura's office." After the call, I joked, "Do you want a job here?" We both laughed, finished the books, and I shook their hand. Before they left, I tried to give them some money, but they refused, saying they were just happy to help. 

On Monday morning, this person showed up. They walked in and said, "I'm here for the job." I was completely shocked. "Holy cow, I was just kidding!" I thought to myself. But then I had another thought. Talk about the best interview you could ever have. This person gave up several hours of their time on a
Friday night simply to help me and wouldn't take any compensation for it. 

So I hired this person. And I have never regretted a day of it. In fact, it will soon be 20 years that we have been working together.  

Why do I tell you this story? Because, your character always counts. When I saw this person's character, I thought, "How can I possibly do better than this?"