In this article, the authors explore how school-based hiring reforms play out among schools serving different students in different locations within a single district. In particular, they consider how the intersection of school-based capacity and local school context affect teacher selection practice and outcomes. The analysis is based on a qualitative field study that describes recruitment and interview practices in 10 elementary schools in a large, decentralized urban school district. In addition to conducting interviews with school and district personnel, the authors observed a district-run training session for school-based interview teams and examined district and school documents, including district administrative data on vacancies and assignments for the 2006-2007 school year. All of the schools followed a common hiring procedure, but the authors found striking differences in the extent to which the schools actively recruited teachers and articulated consistent hiring priorities. The authors argue that these differences and the schools' subsequent hiring outcomes are contingent on a complex interaction of school-based knowledge, resource constraints, and each school's relative standing in the district's internal labor market. The article highlights contingencies that offer an important caveat to the premise that school-based hiring will, by virtue of empowerment alone, lead to more effective teacher recruitment and selection. (Contains 16 footnotes, 3 tables, and 4 figures.)