When my husband and I had our company together, we hired high school interns, who were willing to work for school credits. We had three, and all except one worked out great. Both boys turned out to be very good students, they learned well, and fast. Both of them went on to start their own companies, with the knowledge that they got from working with us. All the actual employees we hired started out great and then fizzled quickly. We ended up being better off with the interns. 20 years later, we are still friends with one, and the other one became an "adopted son".