Honestly, I've been on the hunt for some good staff for months now.
I do this because I love it, I'm dedicated to my site, I'm enthusiastic about it and I love it. I can't find any other people who are like that though. I wish I could find someone who shared the same enthusiasm, dedication and love as I do but I can't.

Tons of people have said to me they want to be staff, and I give them a shot, but after the first week or two they just get tired of it and slowly stop to do anything on the site.

I need someone like me, I would love to find 4 or 5 other staff who are like me. Dedicated to the site, want to see it grow, take it seriously, work hard etc. It's so hard to find people like that though

Thats one of our site's biggest problems. The staff we have now are not as dedicated and enthusiastic as id like them to be.

I've been talking to some people here on Gameleon and they've expressed interest to be staff and they seem like good guys so we'll see how it pans out.

As of now though I have yet to find someone like myself. I put countless hours and work into my site and I don't get paid. I do it because I love it and it's like my child, I wanna see the site grow and succeed and become great.

I just wish I could find other staff like that.

Hopefully the people I found on this site work out

It's not always easy to find equally motivated people, because everyone has different reasons for doing what they do. Some want to just break into the biz, others are hoping for free games and/or pay, and still others do it for notoriety. Honestly, without offering something tangible, it's going to be a hard sell-- especially when it comes to hiring for administrative or senior editorial positions (such as Managing Editor, Content Editor, etc.).

What you need to do-- in my opinion, of course-- is to groom the staffers that you have now first. Explain to them what your mission is. If you want your site to become a more serious destination with more of a professional slant to it, then explain that to your staff and gauge their responses accordingly. If you're getting a passive reply, then maybe you need to continue your staff search; however, there's a chance that you may have more dedicated personnel than you think. You just might have to give them a chance to prove it.

I hope that site admins from other gaming portals will chime in here; you are very passionate about running a great gaming website and I'm sure that other people here can offer some great advice and relay some pertinent experience.

I wouldn't worry so much. As a deputy editor and a very passionate person when it comes to games/gaming I try to use my enthusiasm and inspire the people that work below me, this generally makes them become just as passionate and enthusiastic as me. Peter is right though, building the type of person you are looking for is the best way.

If you will be holding them to the same standard that you hold yourself, someone that you don't know may not take this so well if they are more relaxed than you.

If you can develop some sort of a community within your writers this will bring out the best in them. Get them motivated and you will see the change in their writing guaranteed.

The biggest problem with finding some good and dedicated staff, is that they think they can get a free game every week. And if that isn't the case, than they are to lazy to post some news. We are having the same problem on our website. Someone wanted to become staff and he left within 24 hours because no-one was reading his articles, while he didn't posted anything yet! And some other kid thought that I was going to pay his visit to the Gamescom in Kohnl and asked me every day when he was going to get some reviewgames.

As I mentioned in my previous reply, each potential staff member is going to have his or her own motivation for wanting a position... and, unfortunately, free games are one possible motivation. This can be somewhat held in check by setting guidelines in advance; perhaps there's a probationary period for new staff before they are added to the pool for reviewables, or perhaps they need to have a CV or resume with experience which shows that they are capable of turning those games around for review in a timely and professional fashion.

More and more websites are interviewing potential staff-- even volunteers-- and checking resumes to make sure that they're legit. I think that it's becoming more and more important to be specific in setting expectations for new hires. If you post in a job ad that free games are a perk, that's going to be the first thing that comes to mind for certain applicants. I'd fall back on other perks for volunteer positions, such as forum status, a site e-mail address, and the possibility for advancement within the site. If, during the interview process, the applicant seems like he or she is worthy, then you can discuss at that time the possibility of occasional review copies.

Lastly, in any reviewing role-- volunteer or paid-- these writers are going to have to foot the bill in a lot of situations. I don't care how big your site is, you're not getting a review copy of every game... so you're going to have to buy a few along the way. In my career, I've had to buy about 70% of my own games to cover. Would I like to see that number come down? Yeah, sure... I'm not exactly rich. On the other hand, I understand that, if I want to keep reviewing games and building my experience, I'm going to have to buy what I can.

Well I posted some staff guidelines for my staff and now they are all up in arms saying it feels like work now on the site rather than fun and it feels like a chore. The guidelines were nothing terrible either. They were like, check your spelling and grammar before posting, try to post at least 5 posts a week, check the staff forums once a day, like this stuff is not to demanding lol but they are opposed to it.

Those are normal guidlines. We also use them on our site.

Ye I know. Anyways if there is anyone who is dedicated, enthusiastic and loves doing this kind of stuff let me know. I'm looking for some dedicated staff I can count on. I'm also looking for a kind of second in command person who will help me run the site.

When you aren't a real professional gamingsite, it is really hard to find good staff. We at Undercover-Gaming are all 'young'. The site managers are over 18 (except for one). But the public, where we look that is really into the gaming and whats to write stuff, are young people around the 15 till 18 years. But they have a study and there for don't have always the time to post news or write an article. Then it is really hard to find people who can be really active and want to be active.

I know this might sound a little churlish, but do you actually pay any of these people?

For me, that's the kicker. Since I started out a few years ago I've done nothing but free, voluntary work. This might be fine for a part timer, a games enthusiast who gets a kick from doing the odd review, but I want to do this for a living. Nowadays it's very hard to get good, paying, steady work. I've just started on the way to becoming a full time paid professional (I hope!). I see listings every day for sites like yours offering "jobs" and "staff positions", but the best remuneration offered usually amounts to the promise of the odd free game to review. If that's all you have to offer to potential staff, than I'm not surprised at the type you're attracting.

If you want enthusiastic, talented people with a high level of professionalism and commitment, you're going to have to a) prey on young up and comers who will do just about anything to expand their portfolio, or b) start ponying up the cash or other, serious benefits to get some decent, permanent people in.

On a not entirely unrelated note, I'm available for work.