Patrice McElroy
Executive Officer
Talent Management,
the LA Metro
Talent Acquisition
Department
Los Angeles County
Metropolitan
Transportation
Authority T
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 91
HE LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROpolitan
Transportation Authority has
more than 10,000 employees working
across Los Angeles County. With our
agency — and the transit industry —
facing a wave of retirements, we must
always be in talent development mode.
We have a mandate from county voters
to build 40 capital projects in the next 40
years while operating the nation’s third
busiest transit system.
As part of this eff ort, Metro has adopted
a multi-prong career pathway approach
which assists in recruiting and retaining
employees. Th e “prongs” in the career
pathway that address professional learning
are employee development, management/
leadership development and transportation
executive senior leadership.
In the realm of employee development,
Metro off ers a series of classes designed to
help employees gain professional knowledge
and enhance skills to succeed in
their current roles. One of these classes
is the Department 101 course, which was
created to help all employees understand
their function and position and the impact
their individual department has on
the agency as a whole.
In management/leadership development,
employees are off ered opportunities
to further develop their competencies
related to the business goals. One of these
programs is the Multi-Agency Exchange
Program (MAX), which allows Metro
employees to briefl y work at other transit
agencies. Th is provides LA Metro employees
the chance to see and experience
diff erent approaches to our work and seek
solutions for common industry challenges.
Th is speaks to a larger issue. We don’t
want Metro employees only =learning the
Metro way of doing things. We want our
employees exposed to a world of ideas.
All employees benefi t from learning,
thus our Transportation Executive/Senior
Leadership Program, which is aimed at
advancing senior leadership members’
understanding of industry trends and advancing
strategic leadership skills. We participate
in the American Public Transportation
Association’s premier professional
development program, Leadership APTA.
Our industry cannot just rely on developing
talent that we already have.
We believe that if our industry is going
to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure,
we must ensure people want to be part
of our industry.
We have focused very heavily on
several programs designed to persuade
people to consider transportation as a
career and to help provide a pathway
to jobs at our agency or with our contractors.
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For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/10065250