Hiring decisions offer an immense opportunity for school leaders to influence the trajectory of their organizations in the immediate and long-term. However, very few school administrators have appropriate training, if any at all, in how to select the best candidates. Effective hiring for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers presents further unique challenges including the fact that these positions do not open as frequently as classroom teaching positions, administrators are less likely to have worked in one of these roles, and the required competencies are often less tangible than knowledge of content and pedagogy. In this article the authors discuss the most pervasive and influential barriers to making great hiring decisions and recommend a competency-based approach to hiring in order to clear these barriers. The authors define a competency-based approach to hiring as one that requires an understanding of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality traits needed for success in a given role. The authors go on to identify four overarching competencies required of school counselors, psychologists, and social workers and recommend a number of practices as a means of making the best possible hiring decisions.