Conducting a search for a new staff member is a challenge. We all know this. I'll bet that nearly everyone reading this posting has served on a search committee at one time or another. You know the score: distributing the vacancy notice, reviewing the applications, conducting the phone interviews, weeding the candidates, devising the interview schedule, bringing a few hopefuls to campus, getting through the interviews, making recommendations on who to hire, navigating the bureaucracy, completing the paperwork... The process takes a few months, if you're lucky.

The process itself isn't my topic here. I'm concerned with something that happens before the hiring process begins: conceptualizing the position and the person who will fill it. In other words, the issue here is how we envision what we want from a new hire and how we can get it.

I've observed that it's difficult to get the staff you need if you don't know what you need. This is tautology worth thinking about. Let me give a couple of examples.

Let's say it's time to hire a new catalog programmer. What skills would you look for? Would you think to include requirements for, say, demonstrated skills with Web services, APIs, AJAX, SOAP, and more? In other words, asking for skills with the catalog system is not enough. A catalog that (among other things) pushes data out and pulls data in is one that can move you to the next level. If your staff can't envision a catalog with boundaries outside of itself, then chances are you'll tweak what you have with your new programmer but not much more.

Let's also say that it's time to hire a new bibliographer. Over and above the skills and experience required to fulfill the responsibilities for the subject areas in question, a new mindset is needed. Let's say it's time to move away from the practice of maintaining local subject pages, something that all your bibliographers do. Maybe it's time to put your resources into some sort of content management system or database that will allow them to be repurposed for multiple sites, platforms, and devices. Having a bibliographer on staff who advocates for such a thing would help advance the cause - and also speak volumes about this particular bibliographer.

And so on.

You could get lucky and hire someone with these qualities without discussing any of these things in the interview. There are eager, savvy candidates out there. But if your position descriptions don't speak to these people and their visions, you might not attract the candidates you need.

I've seen position descriptions revamped as a part of the hiring process, and for the better. Some new positions advertised out there are pretty exciting. But I've also seen plenty of positions that are fairly standard.

I've also seen librarians hire people they are comfortable with - people who are like themselves - rather than those who might shake them up.

So I'm wondering. How do you inject vision into the hiring process when those doing the hiring lack vision? Is it a vicious circle - no vision, therefore no visionary hiring? Can all you do is hope to get lucky?