Doctoral students in political science are understandably concernedwith job placement. Most students enter graduate school with an eyeto academia and want to know what they must do to secure their idealacademic position. Faculty members readily offer guidance on how toincrease students' likelihood of obtaining an academic job. AndPS has published many articles that focus onthis topic, ranging from empirical descriptions of the job market topersonal accounts of job-hunting experiences. Unfortunately,graduate students often receive anecdotal or contradictory advice.To help rectify this, we undertook a more systematic examination ofthe qualities department hiring committees seek when grantinginterviews to job applicants.Theauthors would like to thank John Coleman, Katherine CramerWalsh, Charles Franklin, the anonymous reviewers atPS, and the survey respondents.