Executive (Transit) Recruiting with KL2 and Christian Kent

When a high-level transit management or executive position becomes vacant, it is a major event! Not only are you faced with having to identify and hire someone new to take on critical leadership duties, but you must also ensure that the new individual is a proper fit for your organization's mission and culture, and in the meantime, you must continue to deliver service to your community. This can be a time-consuming and heavy lift for a human resources department that has many other positions to fill on a daily basis. Additionally, the vetting of executive candidates (some of whom may be serving in high-profile positions  in other agencies) requires a degree of confidentiality that would be better facilitated externally. When you put the search in the hands of our experienced team, we handle the logistics; provide you with a diverse and highly qualified applicant pool; and offer informed industry perspectives on the candidates to aid you in making one of the most important decisions for your organization. 

Unlike other executive search firms, the principal recruiters at KL2 are all accomplished professionals from the public transit industry who recruit only for the public transit industry. Several of our team members have served as transit CEOs and in other C-suite transit positions; and members of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Board of Directors and Hall of Fame; and former APTA Chairs. Mr. Kent currently serves on the Board of Directors for both APTA and COMTO (Conference of Minority Transportation Officials) and chairs accessibility committees in both organizations. Our professional networks are vast, and this enables us to source the best candidates available. We know transit, and most importantly, we know the people of transit. When you engage us to conduct an executive search, we do not wait passively for prospective candidates to reply to advertisements; rather, we also target candidates within our professional networks and from previous campaigns who we know well and are confident will meet your expectations.  

Another advantage of working with a transit executive recruiter is that we know transit organizations, both public and private. We know the environments and specific challenges that the candidates have faced, and we are able to make a more accurate assessment of their skill sets with this industry knowledge. 

Since recruitment is our main job at KL2Connects, LLC, our recruitment process is streamlined and efficient. We don’t have to worry about competing business demands that may be a drain on our time. To assist the speed of our process, we have an extensive pool of candidates from which we can draw prospects immediately in addition to a quick launch of any advertising campaigns needed. As a result, your desired candidate can be hired and ready to go much faster than a typical in-house search.

Beyond a thorough review of the job description you provide, we will interview key stakeholders;  assess your organization's culture; and identify the desired attributes of your ideal candidate. Using this information as our guide, we will create a leadership profile that describes the candidate who will best meet the needs of your organization. 

We are deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, and we provide the most diverse applicant pools without regard to race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. In recent years, over 40% of KL2's CEO placements have been minority and female candidates. (See Mr. Kent's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion here.)

To learn more about how Mr. Kent and KL2Connects, LLC, can help with your transit executive recruiting needs, schedule a consultation with us today.