A Transit Agency Hires the Best Resume and Loses a Year

Usually Nothing Went Wrong with the Person

Usually nothing went wrong with the person. The agency hired before it understood its own environment.

A resume tells you what someone has done somewhere else. It says nothing about how they'll decide when the board wants one thing, the union wants another, and the disability community is in the room watching.

We Changed the Order of the Work

So we changed the order of the work. Before I look at a single candidate, we map the agency itself. Not the mission statement — the actual terrain.

1. Talk to the workforce, the board, the contractors, the advocates.

2. Figure out why past leaders made it here or didn't.

3. Find the relationships that are one conflict away from breaking.

4. Write the leadership profile from that, then go find the person.

The Diagnostic Surfaces What the Agency Can't Say About Itself

It's slower up front. Some agencies don't love that part, and I understand why — a vacant seat feels urgent.

But the diagnostic keeps surfacing things the agency couldn't say about itself. One client's job description asked for a change agent. The workforce, once you actually asked them, needed someone who would stay put long enough to be believed.

I won't claim this works everywhere. It's what has worked in the searches we've run.

"Do we actually know what this environment requires, or are we hoping the hire figures it out for us?"

Key Executive Takeaways

Christian T. Kent ("Mr. Paratransit")

Founder & Principal Consultant at Transit Management Consulting, LLC with nearly 40 years of public transportation leadership, former WMATA Accessibility Chief, and Executive Recruiter with KL2 Connects.

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