Followup question: How do I know I have "one of these people" such that I can not waste their time with phone interviews, etc? Letting in a lot of chaff in hopes of not turning away wheat is not scalable, and if I already knew who the good ones were without phone screening them, I could probably cut down on the interviewing as well.

I'll grant you that true networked hires may have earned a skip-the-phone stage, though I'd still rather answer THEIR questions on the phone than find a no-fit after 3 hours in-office.

Be able to move fast is always good advice though!