Not really, you have to pay competitively of course. But you can safely assume that everybody else does that too. I noticed a pattern in Berlin where I'm based where the less attractive jobs indeed come with higher salaries. When the work is shit and they bleed engineers faster than they can hire them there's nothing else they can do than up their rates.

So, when I see a top rate advertised, I immediately ask myself: what is so wrong with this company that people don't want to work there? Usually it's fairly obvious when you meet people that used to work there (they'll have a grudge). Usually it's a combination of mismanagement, bad culture, and corporate stupidity. It happens. Big companies can get away with that for surprisingly long.

When hiring, what I look for is very simple. I try to sell the gig and look for positive response to the sales pitch. Does the person have the skills I need? A few simple questions can get you a good hint there. Red flags would be bullshitting when they don't know something or plain ignorance for stuff they ought to know. Beyond that, it's about fast decision making based on imperfect knowledge. I'm well aware that most interview processes are completely ineffective so I don't waste too much time on that. Either they obviously know their shit or they obviously don't.

So, I simply put myself in the frame of mind that I've already decided to hire the person and start talking about what they'll do, how they'll do it, etc. It's classic sales strategy and it works; I've hired some great people this way.