I don't think Dumbledore picks random teachers at all. In general, most of the Hogwarts teacher appear to be extremely well qualified for their jobs. Given what we know of the backstories of McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout, they seem to be at the top of their field. While we may not know Lupin's backstory yet, Book 3 shows that he clearly had the necessary skills to teach DADA and given that he has known Dumbledore for a long time, I'm sure Dumbledore was aware of this fact. The rest of the teachers all seem like solid choices to me except for maybe Trelawney, who Dumbledore admittedly almost does not hire. But even Hagrid and Lockhart make sense to an extent. Hagrid has spent years working with magical creatures and has proven himself capable of working with them, making him very knowledgeable about the subject. It's his personality that gets in the way of his teaching, not his actual knowledge. And while Lockhart was a fraud, there's nothing to suggest that Dumbledore knew him before he came to teach at Hogwarts and since Lockhart's DADA reputation was so strong, I can see why he hired him. So, in general, I don't think you necessarily need to be a teacher or have some kind of credential so much as you need to have proven knowledge and skill in a particular area.

Well I suppose it is possible he taught at another school because there is supposed to more schools than just Hogwarts , Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. I could see him teaching in another school in another country and at least there somebody would be to provide a potion for him because it only says Umbridge wrote up bit making it hard for Lupin to get a job that year so it was hard to get a job. So I would presume from this it wasn't too hard getting a job as a werewolf before then. He could of gone into a muggle community as a teacher but, i would think Lupin would be too worried about becoming a werewolf .

Now I think most of the teachers he select were students at hogwarts so he would know how good they are at a particular subject. He might also look at OWLS and NEWTS .For example, both Mcgonagall and Flitwick attended Hogwarts and he would have known Mcgonagall because Dumbledore taught transfiguration and he would probably told by the old charms teacher that Flitwick was very good. Also I presume that they both got an O in their subjects. However, there are few people who break the rule. These are Hagrid, Trelawny and DADA teachers. He had known Hagrid for many years and would of known his knowledge of magical creatures and know he loves magical creature.After all as games keeper he had to deal with magical creatures often.Trewlany he kept in the castle so she was safe after all she made a prophecy about both Harry and Voldemort.The defence against the dark art teachers were hard to find so he didn't really have as much choice. I think Lupin needed a job and probably wrote to Dumbledore.I think Dumbledore accepted so he could keep an eye on Harry and because he was well adapted to the job.

I think that teachers for other subjects would be chosen carefully. This is shown by the fact that Dumbledore interviewed Trelawney, in 1980 at the Hogs Head.

Because of the curse on the DADA teaching job.
There is not much point, on searching hard for good teachers. If they are going to be only at Hogwarts for a year.

Quirriell had been a teacher at Hogwarts before he went traveling *cough cough Albania*. So Dumbledore must of thought he was a good teacher and gave him the DADA job when he returned.

Every one thought Lockhart was this amazing person who had defected all these creatures. I am not sure whether Dumbledore believes this or not.
He had been given Order of Merlin, Third Class and was a Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League.

Lupin was a very good teacher I think that he was the best DADA teacher Harry had, Remus was part of the Order of the Phoenix and fought in the First Wizarding War.

Mad-Eye Moody was one of the best aurors there was so he knows what he is doing. He was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Umbridge was forced on Hogwarts by the Ministry so Dumbledore did not have much of a choice.

Snape was a fairly good teacher and also Dumbledore wanted Slughorn at Hogwarts, so Slughorn took the potions teaching job.

I like the idea of Lupin wanting to become a teacher. Out of all the Marauders, he's the one with a quality and demeanor that I like in teachers. Someone above mentioned that maybe he got that briefcase as a gift. Maybe it's possible that it was a gift from James or Sirius upon leaving Hogwarts? Given it's tattered appearance, maybe it was made by Muggle hands and was a gift from Lily? I can't wait to read about Lupin on Pottermore. :)

I don't think Lupin was a professor before, but I totally see him aspiring to be one. I think his classes were the most beneficial and I think he had a special gift for teaching. I just think his affliction got in the way of his dreams. Obviously Dumbledore would have hired him no matter what, but would the Ministry had let him if they knew about him being a werewolf? I don't think they would.

Since there is no such thing as a university of magic where a witch or wizard can go to earn a degree in magic education after leaving Hogwarts, it seems to me that the only way to become qualified to teach is to spend time working elsewhere and gaining practical experience in a field that involves expertise in a particular subject. We find out in chapter 11 of Chamber of Secrets that Flitwick is rumored to be a dueling champion, which would probably involve a lot of advanced study in charms and counter-charms. So, it makes sense for him to eventually become the Charms teacher. We also see later on in chapter 13 that Armando Dippet refuses to give Tom Riddle the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but invites him to reapply in a few years when he has gained some personal experience.

I think that Lupin is qualified to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts because of his own personal experiences. We know from reading chapter 9 of Order of the Phoenix that he was a prefect during his time as a student at Hogwarts, which shows he has a sense of responsibility. He was also a member of the original Order of the Phoenix during Voldemort's first reign of terror, which means he has experience with dark magic and fighting dark wizards. He also has a clear, working knowledge of dark creatures (and technically IS a dark creature since he's a werewolf). I do not, however, believe that he has experience teaching in the muggle world. I don't think he would have wanted to put himself in close proximity to muggle students given his condition. Not only that, his absences every month during the full moon would be difficult to explain to the headmaster/headmistress of a muggle school. Since Dumbledore is aware that Lupin is a werewolf, he understands that once a month Lupin is unable to teach. I also believe that Lupin would never have taken the teaching job at Hogwarts unless he was absolutely sure that Dumbledore could persuade Snape to make the Wolfsbane potion to keep him in control.

Thinking about what makes witches and wizards qualified to teach at Hogwarts gets me thinking about what makes them qualified to be the headmaster/headmistress as well. Obviously, if someone spends several years as a teacher, they may be qualified to be the head of the school if they have done well and learned what it takes to make the school function efficiently. There do seem to be other ways, however. The example that comes to mind is Dilys Derwent, whom we are introduced to in chapter 22 of Order of the Phoenix when we see her in her portraits in Dumbledore's office and at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. It says that she was a healer at St. Mungo's for 19 years before becoming headmistress of Hogwarts for 27 years. Since we find out in chapter 29 that being a healer takes top grades at O.W.L and N.E.W.T. level, Dilys Derwent would have to have a very thorough knowledge of magic and would therefore be qualified to be headmistress of a magic school.

Just a couple of thoughts...

Professors, at least in the US don't really make much money at all, so I'm thinking that if Lupin was working as a professor, he could have still been poor and shabby. Especially if he found a place to work that was so desperate for a professor that they gave him a few days off every full moon.

I like the idea of him being a private tutor, maybe to people in situations like Hagrid's where they need to learn magic under special circumstances. Or maybe he taught at a special school for kid who'd been bitten by werewolves. Surely there are others attempting to live moderately normal lives. We know Fenrir loved to target kids, right? I bet those families would need help and probably not have a lot of money because once they had a werewolf in the family, they'd be ostracized.

I was also thinking that Lupin could have been a tutor, in lots of different capacities scuh as for children and even adults. In the nineteenth century, some men earned their living by educating other men of means (who perhaps didn't necessarily get a good education as a child or who wished to improve themselves when they got older). Seeing as the wizarding world is quite old-fashioned in a lot of ways, I can see individuals serving in this capacity, as an all-around tutors (this is the set-up at universities like oxford where your program is very self-directed by you study under a tutor who guides you along the way). There is the problem that he is a werewolf but perhaps he was able to travel internationally and serve as a tutor in location where he would not be stigmatized (until something went wrong I suppose...).
I was also thinking that teacher hires at Hogwarts would be made a Dumbledore's discretion. Perhaps based on OWL scores, prospective teachers can sit for additional exams at the Ministry. Or perhaps it is strictly done through interview, like Trelawney.

But in thinking about teachers at Hogwarts, it got me thinking about the adminstration of the school itself. I assume the teachers are paid (they get a place to live but probably monetary compensation as well to be needed supplies and save for retirement). If so, where does that money come from? More to the point, where do they get the money to purchase all the food for feasts? Obviosuly, they have free labor from house elves for lots of maintanence and cooking but what about the physcial things that would need to be purchased? Do the School governors raise money for the school? I haven't ever heard that students pay fees to go there (Dursleys wouldn't pay it and Weasleys couldn't afford it). Are they funded by the Ministry? If so that would implicate oversight by the Ministry for use of funds, etc. Perhaps the Board of Governors is part of the Ministry and funds are channeled in that way? This would also implicate the control the ministry has over Dumbledore. Also, I was just thinking about all the furntiure etc. in Hogwarts and the property itself ... So if Hogwarts had to have an estate sale in a completely hypothetical scenario, how much would it be worth? Is all that value ultimately owned by the Ministry? HOGWARTS IS FASCINATING!

I had always thought that Professor Lupin may have just gone to some cheap store on Diagon Alley and gotten the letters on his suitcase a while before he came to Hogwarts. Werewolves aren't accepted in the magical community, let alone the Muggle one, so he wouldn't have had much of a chance in work beforehand.

I don't think there's such a thing as Hogwarts University, so I think Dumbledore employs people who were probably the best in the year for a certain subject. All the teachers at Hogwarts were very good at their job, and we know that Neville becomes a teacher later on for Herbology when he wasn't particularly remarkable at anything else (apart from his bravery, of course.)

I dont believe that Remus had any teaching experience before hogwarts. I think this because of the teaching style he takes with his classes. Instead of simply getting them to read from books and practice spells, he got them to go head on with magical creatures. This is usually the same kind of style that new teachers would take in normal schools, where as an older teacher for example professer Binns makes the class as boring as possible and just gets them to read from books.
Where as teaching qualifications goe, i dont think Dumbledore would care how much education you have. I think he would base it on how skilled you are at the certain subject and how much he trusts you. If he knows you and knows if you are good for the job, he wouldnt care how much qualifications you have!

>>>Just like with Hagrid, he didnt have any experience with teaching or any qualifications. Dumbledore knew what kind of a man he was and he knew how much he loved magical creatures.
It isnt the quantity of your knowledge, its the quality! ;)

I feel like, while Dumbledore would usually attempt to ensure teachers have some qualifications to teach, this doesn't apply because the job is jinxed. He simply can't get enough candidaes for the job after going through a professor every year, and so chooses who he can. Lupin was in desparate need of a job, and was very good at DADA, so he got the job! I think most ofther teaching posts would have enough people applying for them that some decent qualifications would be needed. Maybe they are more in line with our University Professors- they do independent research in their branch of magic and publish articles in journals (Like 'Transfiguration Today).

Indeed, the title is stamped on Lupin's case in peeling letters, indicating it's been there a while. This doesn't make a lot of sense. I think it's probably more likely that Jo' simply wrote this as an indication of his poverty, getting the information she needed across without stopping to really think through the implications. Though, one might take it as something that shows he's had previous teaching experience. On the other hand, it's hard for me to imagine Lupin has taught elsewhere, unless it was a wizarding school (like Durmstrang, or Beauxbatons) in another country, and the folks running that school were even more tolerant of werewolves than Dumbledore, which strikes me as exceedingly unlikely. Also, Lupin could not have taught in a Muggle university, or even a secondary school, because he doesn't have any qualification that the Muggles recognise as a university degree. It wouldn't even make sense for him to fake his way in with forged papers, because he wouldn't have a sufficient body of knowledge in any subject that Muggles want to learn. But primary school might just be possible; as he's a half-blood, he probably has enough general knowledge to carry it all off. Then again, we have to think about Lupin's condition, and I am sure he would be afraid to teach in a Muggle school, fearing that he might accidentally harm someone.

I love the idea that others have brought up, that Lupin's case was a gift from James, Sirius, and Peter, maybe for his birthday or something. Even though Remus is probably seeing his future life as bleak (how many jobs would accept a werewolf?), the other three are sure that their bookish friend will be able to do anything, including coming back to Hogwarts (Dumbledore likes werewolves, after all!) as a professor. So it's a kind of 'chin up, Moony, we know you can do it!' sort of thing. And then Remus would treasure it now because it was a gift from them before their lives all fell apart.
And he probably wouldn't fix it magically because it was a gift from Potter and Black, and who knows what sort of magic they themselves put on it or how it would react if you tried anything magical!

I am sure Jo' will tell us in his biography on Pottermore, which I am craving to the point where I can't wait any longer!

About the Hogwarts credentials; I completely agree with what others have said, about how you do need certain qualifications, unless you are applying for the D.A.D.A. job, because almost nobody wants the job, given that it's jinxed. As well, we know Hagrid's case is special, and Trelawney's as well.

Another thing, a full moon actually fell on 31 August, 1993. So, the night before the train ride was the night when Lupin was up howling, and that is why he is so completely knocked out today. I do wonder why he was on the train in the first place, instead of using Floo to get to Hogwarts. Was he really too exhausted even to do that much? Or had Dumbledore deliberately planted him there to keep an eye on Harry? And, I wonder what would have happened had Lupin been awake and conversing and had possibly noticed Scabbers in the train … Sirius says later on that he recognised Peter in his animagus form because of how many times he had seen him transform, and also because he was missing a finger. Maybe Lupin would not have recognised him as easily as Sirius for some other reason, but I think he would have … and I also wonder what is going on in Peter's rat-like brain. There's a cat in the cabin trying to kill you because it knows what you are; then there's your old buddy from school who will now be a teacher; and also, the son of the man you betrayed and his two friends are discussing another old friend of yours, whom you framed for multiple murders, and who now broke out of Azkaban supposedly to kill Harry, when he's really after you. No wonder he lost a lot of weight.

Also, I am curious as to which people dementors prefer to go after (at least while they're still under Ministry control). Is it the outlaws they're searching for? Is it happy people, with lots of memories for them to feed on? Is it people with horrors in their past (who would have a harder time defending themselves via Patronuses), on whom they can have the greatest effect? Well, since not only Harry reacted strongly to the dementors that night on the train, but Ginny as well, I think it more likely that the dementors were attracted to the scarred memories both have. It's been only a few months since Ginny was possessed by Tom Riddle, and it's more than likely that she's still traumatized by what happened then. Needless to say, Harry also hasn't had a pleasant past. Dementors are the core essence of depression and unpleasantness; thus, they are attracted to miserable people or to those who had lived an unpleasant life — sucking in their remaining bits of happiness, in order for them to completely wallow in that unfortunate person's misery.

On another note, I find it interesting that Lupin knows so much about dementors. He's a good teacher and researched them, but I like to think there is more to it. Dementors are depression in a physical form. Lupin, who has been shunned by society for being a werewolf and lost his closest friends, probably knows a thing or two about depression. And why did he have such a big bar of chocolate on him? I assume that since it is the day after the full moon, he selected a big bar in order to help him cope with what he had just been through.

* * *

Professor Trelawney's predictions are made quite general most of the time. However, I am astounded by the fact that all the predictions she makes follow up on in some way later on. For example, she tells Parvati she should 'beware a red-haired man;' and well, Ron was a red-head and he took Parvati's twin, Padma, to the dance. So, I connect this to the fiasco at the dance. I know it's a stretch, but it still seems logical to me. Then she says 'And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever.' That's Hermione, of course, as Lavender points out later on. Afterwards, Trelawney says to Lavender 'That thing you are dreading — it will happen on the 16th of October.' Lavender gets a letter on that day, stating the fact that her rabbit had been killed by a fox. Hermione is against it, though, saying she wasn't even dreading her rabbit's death to begin with — but one could argue that. She then predicts the breaking of Neville's cup, which does happen. Then again, you don't need to be a Seer to predict that.
As well, in the episode, you got it wrong: It's Harry who says to Ron 'You're going to suffer but be very happy,' (which completely applies to Ron in every sense). They switched it up in the film. And it's Ron who says to Harry 'Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic,' which of course, we know he ends up doing. Also the 'windfall, unexpected gold,' most likely refers to what happened to Harry in Goblet of Fire, as Rosie pointed out. Now, going back to Trelawney's predictions: 'The deadly enemy': Voldy, obviously, as Hermione POINTS OUT so dismissively, because she's a rebel now. 'An attack': Happens at the end of the book, obviously. 'Danger in your path': When is Harry NOT in danger? And as it was also pointed out, the constant mention of the Grim might be referring to Sirius's presence in animagus form, rather than Harry's own death. Or perhaps it's referring to the eventual death of the Horcrux inside Harry.
As well, you may recall her mentioning at Christmas to 'Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be first to die!' Now, before you say that neither Harry nor Ron die first, even though they are supposedly the first to rise from the Christmas dinner later on, I might remind you that there were actually thirteen people BEFORE Trelawney joined them to eat: You can't forget that Pettigrew/Scabbers was still in Ron's pocket. Which means that the first to rise before Trelawney turned up should be first to die. And that was Dumbledore, who got up first to greet the Divination Professor. And amongst the thirteen people that were there (Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, Filch, two first years, a Slytherin fifth year, Harry, Ron, Scabbers/Pettigrew, and Hermione), we obviously know Dumbledore dies first; thus making her prediction come true. Not only that, but also in book five, there is a point in Grimmauld Place where thirteen people dine together, and Sirius is the first to rise from that meal, and as we know, he dies in that same book, making Trelawney's prediction come true once more. Moreover, after the Battle of Little Whinging in book seven, thirteen people gathered at The Burrow to mourn the loss of Alastor Moody. Remus Lupin is the first to rise to offer to look for the body. Lupin was later killed by Antonin Dolohov at the Battle of Hogwarts, and was the first to die amongst the group of people gathered there, thus making Professor Trelawney's prediction come true yet again.

I do not believe that Lupin taught before Hogwarts, though I do believe he studied dark arts. It is clear that even before the anti werewolf legilation he was considered unemployable in the wizarding world. I believe that he did random odd jobs for muggles because until recently there was no wolfsbane potion for him to take, he couldn't have been expected to hold down a normal job if he was in and out like he was at school. Dumbledore seems to have a different criteria when it comes to picking DATDA professors but they seem to directly relate to something going on at the castle if possible. I am sure that Lupin studied dark creatures, Afterall he was a dark creature himself (No matter how much I love him despite it) he studied and learned about other creatures because I think he always worried that he was more beast than man. His reluctance with Tonks and Teddy shows us that. By studdying other dark creatures he was able to surmise whether or not he was truly dark or just had a little problem. Because he was so well studied in dark creatures and let's face it, he did fight in the first war and was well studied in dark magic and defense. He made the perfect candidate to teach the students durring a year that Hogwarts would be undersiege of Damentors. Who would understand them better? Add in his connection to Harry and his desire to protect him, who would be better to teach in the year that a deranged criminal was obviously heading for Hogwarts. The briefcase, I think it is special to him, it is battered and weather beaten, it looks like it has gone through hell and back. Now he was impoverished, always. I wonder if it wasn't a gift from James or Sirius (though I lean towards James) for his first after Hogwarts job or for a birthday. He would cherish it as the last thing his bestfriend gave him, making him carry it with him always, no matter the job.