When the City of Mount Holly found themselves needing to hire a new city manager, they turned to Centralina Regional Council for assistance in the recruitment process. The city manager has an essential role in local government and finding the right candidate is crucial. Centralina offers many customizable recruitment services and was happy to step in as a trusted partner to navigate the complexities of a city manager search for our member government.
Mount Holly faced the common challenge of finding a candidate with the right mix of skills for effective leadership, adept management and community engagement. In response, Centralina devised a precise recruitment process aimed at ensuring the city’s continued administrative success, a smooth transition and overall community well-being.
Centralina initiated this process by working with city staff and the council to define the city manager position and the candidate’s desired qualities. This approach extended to the development of review criteria, ensuring a clear understanding of candidates’ alignment with Mount Holly’s vision. Centralina acted as the primary contact for applicants, received résumés for the position, verified completeness and notified applicants of their status. Using the predetermined qualification criteria, Centralina screened résumés and ranked them into categories. Finally, after receiving feedback from Mount Holly, Centralina arranged for candidates to participate in a two-step interview process that our staff helped to facilitate.
Centralina’s efforts ensured a transparent scoring process, providing the council with a comprehensive understanding of each candidate’s strengths, leading to seamless preliminary and final interviews with the council. This process resulted in Mount Holly finding a qualified and dynamic city manager in Jonathan Blanton, a licensed North Carolina attorney with a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Mr. Blanton has most recently served as town manager of Ranlo, NC and is excited to join the team and serve the community of Mount Holly.
Centralina Regional Council’s successful organization of the recruitment process from beginning to end is a testament to our team’s expertise in managing complex and unbiased hiring processes needed for public sector leadership positions and our commitment to helping our member communities find the best talent.
If your community is interested in learning more about our staffing recruitment services, take a look at our sales sheet to read about the scope of our services and how we can help your county or municipality simplify the recruitment process, identify candidates that best match your criteria and ensure your staff is prepared to onboard your new hire.
