Obviously, the thing not to do is to instead make a newbie a "Squire" for a day/week and treat them like a sub-mod. Give 'em a forum that no one cares about, like the Heart of Kingdom's Hearty Heartily King's Domain Or Kingdom, and train them how to be a good mod. It's like a test run. PM members to give 'em a few issues to deal with, like a flame argument between two people, inappropriate forum posts (i.e., not family-friendly or just a thread in the wrong forum), and the like.

Of course, I wouldn't expect making any member a Squire (Cid's Squire?); recommendations along with admin approval would be a preferred selection process than picking names out of a list.