ODESSA, Texas — It was back in January when the Odessa City Council hired the T2 Professional Consulting firm to lead the search process for hiring a new city manager.
At Tuesday night's city council meeting, the council received an update on the progress the firm has made so far.
The process is still on track to have a new city manager in place by July or August, and Odessa Mayor Javier Joven said he is pleased with that timeline.
The presentation by the firm Tuesday night showed how they are handling their business.
“And the reason why we’re so unique is we start with the job first, and we do what’s called a job benchmark," said Dr. Hank Seitz, a representative of the T2 Professional Consulting firm.
The firm is taking an innovative approach to the job hiring process as it looks for the next city manager for the City of Odessa.
Its process is backed by the talents, motivations and behaviors that the job description calls for, a job description that will be revealed by this benchmark.
“We want someone to understand the position, but we have to basically find the description…of what that job is," said Mayor Joven. "Yeah, so it is a different process, but it is a proven process that works better.”
For this type of position, Mayor Joven says they cannot proceed like they used to.
“We need to move in a different direction -- being more modern, use of technology and the psychological advances that have been made in these hiring processes – because these are very high, high-level positions, and we need to find the right candidate," said Mayor Joven.
When the process is complete, the eventual candidate will understand the position as well as how to communicate with the people they will be working with.
“Once the benchmark has been established for that position, then we’ll put it out and start receiving resumes, and then based on those qualifications we’ll find our top candidates," said Mayor Joven.
“The amazing results that can happen here will, I think, really benefit the City of Odessa where you’ll get the most qualified candidate for the city manager position," said Dr. Seitz.
The next part of the process is for a benchmark committee to be made up of two city council members, two other city officials -- one from safety and one from general government – along with two citizens.
The council will actively be working on putting that together as the search for a new city manager continues.