This research project aimed to establish the attributes that are sought by schools in New South Wales when they are selecting new language teachers. The research provided some insight into the decision makers' "wish lists" of desirable attributes. The findings of the project include useful data for employers, teachers, teacher educators, and student teachers about what is expected of language teachers in today's schools. The main focus of the study is the varying importance to schools of teachers' qualifications, language proficiency, personal attributes, and previous teaching experience. The study also ascertains whether adverts placed by schools for new language teachers accurately describe what the school is actually looking for. This was achieved through a content analysis of job adverts and a survey of the schools in question. Although qualifications and subject knowledge play an important role in the selection process, it appears that once these have been established as adequate, teachers' personal traits become more important. These indications led to an investigation of job adverts in the Sydney press and surveys of schools in NSW. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)