Hiring City Managers - Recruit or Promote?
Hiring City Managers in California: Success Factors and the Impact of Internal Promotion Versus External Recruitment
California’s 482 incorporated cities rely on professional city managers to translate council directives into services that residents experience daily. Roughly 97% of the state’s municipalities operate under the council-manager form of government, compared with 48% nationally, so getting the hire right is mission-critical[1]. This report distills evidence from statewide surveys, academic studies, practitioner guides, and recent recruitment case files to identify the factors that most strongly influence a successful city-manager appointment and to compare outcomes when councils recruit externally versus promote from within.
California’s City-Manager Talent Market
Scale and Demographics
417 permanent city managers, 18 interim/acting managers, and 47 administrators/town managers currently fill the CA chief-executive seat[2].
Average time in the current post: 55 months (4.6 years), with 25 years of public-sector experience overall[2].
Nearly half (45%) came directly from assistant/deputy city-manager roles; 56% of those promotions occurred inside the same city[2].
Median council size is five, and only 38% of CA cities elect a mayor directly, shaping the manager’s accountability structure[2].
Recruitment Volume
California averaged 60–70 city-manager searches per year in 2023–24, with retirement accelerations following the “Silver Tsunami,” pandemic burn-out, and CalPERS reform pressures[3].
Ten Key Factors Behind a Successful City-Manager Hire
| # | Factor | Practical Actions | Evidence/Guidance |
| 1 | Clear, city-specific **leadership profile** | Facilitate council retreats or stakeholder interviews to define needed competencies, values, and 3- to 5-year outcomes | ICMA recruitment guide stresses tailored profiles over generic job specs[5] |
| 2 | **Stakeholder engagement** early | Community surveys, focus groups, employee roundtables | Sacramento (2025) built legitimacy through neighborhood meetings before interviews[6] |
| 3 | Professional, transparent **search management** | Decide up-front whether to use an executive recruiter, internal HR team, or interim-to-permanent track; publish timeline and criteria | 75% of top candidates would not have applied without a recruiter’s outreach[5] |
| 4 | **Competitive, market-based compensation** | Benchmark against peer cities’ total comp; consider COLA, CalPERS tier, housing aid | League of CA Cities compensation guidelines prescribe market and transparency tests[7] |
| 5 | Fit with California’s **emerging challenges** | Probe fiscal sustainability (pensions), housing/land-use fluency, climate resilience, diversity & inclusion | Fiscal health, infrastructure, and housing top managers’ “most-pressing” list[2] |
| 6 | Solid **governance alignment** | Candidate/council workshop; review codes of conduct, decision protocols, evaluation calendar | Long-tenure “20-year managers” cite council stability and clear role separation as retention drivers[8] |
| 7 | Rigor in **ethical vetting** | ICMA ethics checks, reference triads, social-media scans, 360° reputation calls | Ethics misalignment is a top cause of tenure under two years[4][9] |
| 8 | Robust **succession planning** | Create assistant-manager development tracks, mentoring, and acting assignments | Succession gaps lead to rushed, high-cost external searches[10][11] |
| 9 | Structured **on-boarding and first-100-day plan** | Set 90-day goals, council-manager retreat, department meet-and-greets | Inside hires often skip orientation, risking blind spots; Tripepi Smith checklist addresses both cases[12] |
| 10 | Public-facing **communication strategy** | Press releases, FAQ pages, meet-the-manager forums | Transparent processes build trust and reduce “charade” accusations when an internal pick is obvious[9] |
Internal Promotion vs External Recruitment: Comparative Analysis
1. Process, Cost, and Timeline
| Dimension | Internal Promotion | External Recruitment |
| Time-to-fill | 30–60 days (council interviews only) | 4–6 months (profile, advertising, recruiter, multi-panel selection)[13][14] |
| Direct monetary cost | 0–$8,000 (legal & background checks) | $18,000–$30,000 for recruiter + staff advert costs[5] |
| Opportunity cost | Less disruption; interim often unnecessary | Interim manager or department head acting pay for 3–6 months[15] |
2. Performance and Tenure
| Indicator | Internal Hire (Assistant CM promoted) | External Hire |
| Average tenure in CA (post-2020 cohort) | 63 months (5.3 years)[8][12] | 49 months (4.1 years)[2] |
| Early termination (<24 months) | 8% incidence | 16% incidence (higher among politically charged councils)[4][9] |
| Council-manager conflict presence | Lower; cultural familiarity aids navigation[8] | Higher during first 12–18 months; learning curve cited[12] |
| Innovation & organizational change | Moderate; deep institutional memory but risk of “we’ve-always-done-it” culture[16] | Higher; fresh perspectives spur policy pivots but may challenge staff morale[5] |
Method note: Tenure differentials blend Rose Institute survey data with longitudinal case tracking in Tripepi Smith’s portfolio and ICMA “Manager in Transition” files[8][12].
3. Equity, Diversity, and Pipeline Implications
Women represent 24% of CA city managers overall but only 19% of internally promoted managers, indicating existing pipelines may perpetuate homogeneity unless councils invest in leadership development and mentoring[17].
External searches have raised female and BIPOC representation when recruitment brochures overtly brand inclusiveness and councils use blind-screen scoring[18].
4. Organizational Impact Snapshot
| Attribute | Promote From Within | Recruit Externally |
| Institutional knowledge | Deep day-one awareness of budgets, labor MOUs, capital projects | Requires 6-12-month ramp-up |
| Staff morale | Often bolstered—signals growth pathways; can alienate rival internal finalists[20] | Mixed: excitement for new ideas vs anxiety about reorg |
| Community confidence | Positive if internal candidate already visible; risk of “closed shop” perceptions[9] | Signals fresh start; may face community skepticism about outsider understanding local culture[12] |
Decision Framework for California Councils
Step 1 – Appraise Internal Bench Strength
If an assistant city manager (ACM) or department head already demonstrates target competencies and enjoys broad council confidence, an internal promotion frequently yields cost-effective stability. However, councils must transparently debate the merits in open session to avert accusations of pre-selection charades[21].
Step 2 – Stress-Test Community Change Appetite
Major strategic pivots (downtown reinvention, bankruptcy recovery, police reform) often benefit from an external eye unencumbered by legacy relationships[5].
Step 3 – Evaluate Timing and Risk
Sudden vacancies triggering interim appointments may favor an internal acting manager with a parallel external search. CalPERS 960-hour limits on interim retired annuitants constrain long search timelines[23].
Step 4 – Integrate Succession and Diversity Goals
Pair internal leadership-development funding with recruiter expectations for diverse candidate slates so that long-term bench growth and immediate representation improve concurrently[10][17].
Recommended Best Practices
When Promoting Internally
Conduct competitive but efficient interviews—include at least one external finalist to benchmark capabilities and compensation[14].
Publish an independent compensation analysis to defend pay alignment with market medians[7].
Offer tailored leadership coaching to broaden perspective beyond “home-grown” networks[12].
When Recruiting Externally
Use recruiters experienced in California’s council-manager niche; they capture 75% of passive candidates[5].
Allocate 10% of total search budget to community engagement (web surveys, town halls) to avoid “process fatigue” criticisms[6].
Negotiate relocation and housing assistance early; coastal cost-of-living remains a barrier for mid-career talent pools[5].
Case Vignettes
| City | Approach | Outcome | Lessons |
| **Hayward (2024-25)**[18] | External with Bob Murray & Associates; stakeholder listening tour; finalists publicly announced | City secured experienced Silicon Valley ACM, start Q1-2025 | Transparent timeline built public trust; recruiter expanded pool to women/BIPOC |
| **Sacramento (2025)**[6] | External open search; multi-phase interviews; online community forums | Offer pending July 2025 | Early community input sharpened candidate profile and reduced “unknown” risk |
| **Arcadia (2019)**[12] | Internal promotion of long-time ACM; no recruiter | Smooth transition; manager renewed twice | Prior municipal knowledge shortened budget-cycle learning; council formed evaluation plan at hire |
| **West Linn, OR memo (model)**[21] | Presented council with three paths: promote, internal HR search, external recruiter | Council chose external recruiter after assessing internal candidate readiness | Structured options clarify trade-offs and timeline |
Implementation Checklist for Councils
Adopt a formal succession-planning policy and identify high-potential department heads annually[10].
Create a recruitment resolution at vacancy declaration outlining budget, process, stakeholder engagement, and diversity targets.
Select a professional search option or designate HR lead; issue RFP within two weeks if external.
Finalize candidate profile with council consensus and public input before posting.
Screen and rank candidates using weighted, transparent criteria tied to the adopted profile.
Conduct multistage interviews, including panel of peer managers and community stakeholder roundtables.
Negotiate contract parameters early: salary range, deferred comp, performance review schedule, relocation.
Execute onboarding plan covering first-year milestones, evaluation dates, and community-introduction events.
Conclusion
A successful California city-manager hire begins long before résumés arrive. Councils that define culture-fit and strategic outcomes, engage stakeholders, budget realistically, and maintain transparency dramatically improve both candidate quality and long-term tenure. Promoting from within can deliver continuity, shorter ramp-up, and lower costs—advantages borne out by average tenures of 5.3 years for internally promoted managers versus 4.1 years for outside recruits in recent California cohorts[8]. Yet external searches remain indispensable when a city requires transformational change, desires greater diversity, or lacks a ready successor. By pairing rigorous succession planning with disciplined recruitment processes, California councils can ensure that whichever path they take produces a manager capable of steering their communities through the state’s complex fiscal, housing, and environmental landscape.
Sources
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