I am currently gearing up to hire a new director to oversee a major portion of our infrastructure. The job description has been written and posted. The interview team has been selected. And the first set of resumes have been received and scrutinized. During all of this prep work, I have been mulling in my head the characteristics I want to see in the candidates. To help me think about this, I pulled out the document I had written a few years ago when I was hiring another director level position. I thought you'd appreciate seeing what I look for in senior level staff:

1) Solid leadership skills-ability to lead a team of professionals across a range of functional areas. Ability to look at what may appear as disparate functions and find areas where they can tie together and be leveraged to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and service. While proficiency in each of the functional areas is preferred, what is most important is an appreciation of his/her level of understanding and a knowledge of how best to leverage expertise within our corporate organization to ensure our internal processes/systems are operating at the highest level of effectiveness and are being managed within the guidelines of our company. Is able to set direction and then execute on the plan.

2) Personal characteristics-high level of integrity, excellent judgment, professional "presence", hard worker, well respected up/down/across the organization. Is focused on doing what is both right and best for the organization versus their "own" agenda. Establishes and delivers on expectations.

3) Financial management-has a solid understanding of financial systems, processes, areas of risk/need for controls, to manage a significant combined operating and capital budget. Is able to think creatively about areas of cost containment and management.

4) HR management-knows how to recruit, retain and motivate a team of talented professionals. Sees the development and growth of his/her staff as an important component of their responsibilities as a leader.

5) Customer-service oriented-recognizes that this role/department serves the administrative needs of the entire IS organization. Appreciates that this means he/she needs to work effectively across a group of IS directors/managers with varied personalities, priorities, talents and skills. Develops the relationships and approaches to manage this diversity in meeting the needs of the department and the organization.