In its first program meeting of the year, Massachusetts Municipal Human Resources held a free webinar today focused on municipal recruitment.

Representatives from communities that participated in a first-of-its-kind municipal career fair on the North Shore last November, in partnership with MassHire-North Shore Career Center, gave an overview of why they wanted to host the event, how it came together, and what the experience was like.

Speakers included:
• Danvers Assistant Town Manager and Communications Director Jen Breaker
• Salem Human Resources Director Lisa Cammarata
• Beverly Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Abu Toppin
• Peabody Human Resources Director Beth O’Donnell

Toppin discussed how the municipal career fair prioritized recruitment of diverse candidates. He also discussed diversity recruitment more broadly and provided some tips for municipal HR departments. Toppin provided a number of examples of job boards where diverse job seekers look for opportunities, and emphasized the importance of outreach and relationship-building beyond typical networks to reach diverse audiences.

The panel concluded with a discussion about lessons learned from the career fair and next steps that the communities will be pursuing.

• Municipal Hiring Strategies presentation (2M PDF)