If you look to hire coders/designers/writers on freelance marketplaces like Elance, Rentacoder and Scriptlance, hire those that ask questions.

On any project above $100 you'll receive 20 or more bids, but 90% them will simply be a price and a list of references. You can be pretty sure most didn't even read your project description.

The 1 or 2 that ask meaningful questions about the project, no matter how small it is, are the ones you want to work with.