The purpose of this paper was to survey South Dakota school administrators and identify a set of professional traits and skills that K-12 school principals most value when they hire first-year teachers for their classrooms. The participants were elementary and secondary school principals across rural South Dakota. Eighty-four principals were sent the electronic survey, and forty-five principals responded in April and May of 2009. This survey was conducted by the Northern State University Teacher Induction Program a data collection and follow-up support program for new teachers graduating from Northern State University and entering their first year of teaching. The results of the data collection documents trends and issues to be addressed by NSU School of Education. (Contains 4 tables.)