When I served as chief of staff in a large metropolitan government, hiring often began with a familiar framework: minimum and preferred qualifications.

Minimum qualifications established the baseline: experience, education, technical expertise, supervisory background, and role-specific knowledge. Preferred qualifications identified the additional credentials or experience that might distinguish the strongest candidates.

Over time, I learned that some of the most important predictors of success were harder to capture in a traditional job description.

• Could the person make sound decisions when the answer was not obvious?
• Could they translate a leadership priority into coordinated action across organizational boundaries?
• Could they navigate stakeholders and remain effective when pressure increased?
• Could they establish clear accountability and sustain follow-through?

I came to think of these as an infrastructure of skills—the capabilities that allow experience and technical expertise to translate into consistent execution.

That distinction matters more than ever right now. As experienced federal employees consider their next chapter, state and local governments have access to a substantial pool of public-sector talent. Agencies should pursue that talent, but they should also look beyond the qualifications easiest to see on a résumé.

The question is not simply whether someone has held the right positions. It is whether they can move important work through a complex government organization.

Look Beyond What Candidates Have Done

Minimum qualifications matter. Government hiring requires consistent standards and reliable ways to assess education, experience, certifications, and technical knowledge. But qualifications tell us primarily what someone has done. They tell us less about how that person operates when the work becomes difficult.

A résumé may show that a candidate managed a major program. It may not reveal how they responded when departments disagreed, resources tightened, stakeholders resisted, or priorities changed.

Technical competence gets the job done. A strong infrastructure of skills keeps agency priorities moving forward.

Four Capabilities to Look For

Can they make sound decisions? Public-sector leaders rarely have perfect information. They must weigh policy requirements, operational realities, financial constraints, stakeholder expectations, and consequences. Hiring leaders should examine how candidates respond when options are imperfect, determine when they have enough information to act, and distinguish between decisions that require broader input and those they are responsible for making.

Can they translate priorities into coordinated action? Many government priorities, such as housing, public safety, economic development, transportation, workforce development, and public health, require multiple parts of government to move together. Strong candidates identify dependencies, clarify ownership, establish next actions, and coordinate across organizational boundaries. That is more than teamwork. It is the ability to translate strategy into execution.

Can they navigate stakeholders and lead under pressure? Government leaders work among employees, residents, unions, elected officials, community organizations, businesses, governing bodies, and partner agencies whose interests will not always align. Strong leaders listen without avoiding difficult decisions, surface disagreement before it undermines implementation, and remain effective when scrutiny or resistance increases.

Can they sustain accountability and follow-through? I would want to know what happens after the meeting ends. Do people understand what they own? Are commitments clear? Are missed commitments addressed? Effective leaders establish clarity around ownership, expectations, milestones, and follow-through so important work does not lose momentum.