Attracting, recruiting, and retaining skilled staff for transportation system operations and management

About this book

The purpose of this project was to provide transportation agencies with strategies and resources to meet their needs for attracting, recruiting, and retaining transportation system operations and management (SOM) staff. The research described herein considers the potential supply and demand for SOM skills and staffing; the actions transportation agencies may take to attract, recruit, develop, and retain skilled staff with SOM capabilities; and the tools that are available or may be developed to assist agencies in attracting and recruiting skilled staff in this area. SOM draws on the knowledge of many disciplines including, for example, traffic engineering, intelligent transportation systems, maintenance, emergency response, traffic operations, traffic safety, incident management, performance measurement, and system planning applied in a comprehensive approach to increase the efficiency and safety of the transportation system. SOM encompasses interactions among transportation modes and between the transportation system and other functions such as emergency management, public safety, and outreach. In this report, we provide information regarding the methodology, results, recommended action plans, and potential future research directions in relation to this project.