Jul 6, 2026 · 26 min · 8 segments
Catherine Burns, chief of human resources with the Baltimore City Department of General Services (DGS), recently joined the *Public Eye* podcast to walk us through how DGS revamped its recruitment…
Katherine BurnsGuest
Mark McGrawHost
Uh, so you mentioned in the article, um, you know, that, that I, that I mentioned at the top here, uh, that your eight-person HR team has taken on a new challenge, uh, modernizing recruitment for hard-to-fill trade roles in an increasingly competitive labor market.
Uh, so what was the impetus for taking on this challenge? What led you and your team to realize that your recruitment process, uh, was in need of modernizing?
So the need to modernize our recruitment processes became apparent even before the COVID pandemic.
While that approach had advantages, I recognized that as our workforce and recruitment needs became more complex, we would benefit greater specialization within HR.
We transitioned to a structure where team members could develop focused areas of expertise, including dedicated recruitment staff.
This not only allowed employees to become subject matter experts in their respective areas, but it also distributed workloads more effectively and reduced the risk of placing too much responsibility on just one individual.
Like many organizations, we found ourselves losing employees faster than we could replace them, particularly in skilled trade positions.
Compensation was certainly a part of that challenge, but it was not the only factor.
Workforce expectations were changing, and candidates were placing greater value on workplace culture, work-life balance, and overall well-being.
Over the years, I've learned that people are often willing to stay with an organization when they feel supported, valued, and connected to a healthy culture, even when higher paying opportunities may exist elsewhere.
Recognizing this reality required us to think differently about both recruitment and retention.
At the same time, we were facing a broader workforce trend, a shrinking pipeline of skilled trade talent.
For decades, there has been a strong social emphasis on four-year college degrees as a primary path to career success.
As a result, many students and families were encouraged to move away from the trades despite the fact that careers offer meaningful work, strong earning potential, and long-term stability.
This trend has contributed to an aging workforce and fewer young people entering trade professions, creating significant recruitment challenges for organizations like ours.
Our agency performs critically behind the scenes work that keeps facilities, equipment, and vehicle operational, but our name doesn't always communicate the breadth of what we do.
Like DGS, Department of General Services, what's that about? Many people assume this work is performed entirely by contractors and are unaware of the skilled trade professionals employed by our agency.
Recognizing this, we work closely with our external legislative affairs team to increase public awareness of our mission and highlight the career opportunities available within the organization.
The ELA team has found new ways to promote these opportunities from Instagram and TikTok to sending job opportunities to elected officials who share with them residents in their respective districts.
Taken together, these factors made it clear that our traditional recruitment approach was no longer sufficient.
We needed a more strategic, data-driven, and proactive model, one that focused not only on filling vacancies, but also head-- on building talent pipelines, strengthening our employee brand, and creating a recruitment process that could compete effectively for skilled trade talent in a challenging labor market.
Uh, so you mentioned in the article, um, you know, that, that I, that I mentioned at the top here, uh, that your eight-person HR team has taken on a new challenge, uh, modernizing recruitment for hard-to-fill trade roles in an increasingly competitive labor market.
Uh, so what was the impetus for taking on this challenge? What led you and your team to realize that your recruitment process, uh, was in need of modernizing?
So the need to modernize our recruitment processes became apparent even before the COVID pandemic.
While that approach had advantages, I recognized that as our workforce and recruitment needs became more complex, we would benefit greater specialization within HR.
We transitioned to a structure where team members could develop focused areas of expertise, including dedicated recruitment staff.
This not only allowed employees to become subject matter experts in their respective areas, but it also distributed workloads more effectively and reduced the risk of placing too much responsibility on just one individual.
Like many organizations, we found ourselves losing employees faster than we could replace them, particularly in skilled trade positions.
Compensation was certainly a part of that challenge, but it was not the only factor.
Workforce expectations were changing, and candidates were placing greater value on workplace culture, work-life balance, and overall well-being.
Over the years, I've learned that people are often willing to stay with an organization when they feel supported, valued, and connected to a healthy culture, even when higher paying opportunities may exist elsewhere.
Recognizing this reality required us to think differently about both recruitment and retention.
At the same time, we were facing a broader workforce trend, a shrinking pipeline of skilled trade talent.
For decades, there has been a strong social emphasis on four-year college degrees as a primary path to career success.
As a result, many students and families were encouraged to move away from the trades despite the fact that careers offer meaningful work, strong earning potential, and long-term stability.
This trend has contributed to an aging workforce and fewer young people entering trade professions, creating significant recruitment challenges for organizations like ours.
Our agency performs critically behind the scenes work that keeps facilities, equipment, and vehicle operational, but our name doesn't always communicate the breadth of what we do.
Like DGS, Department of General Services, what's that about? Many people assume this work is performed entirely by contractors and are unaware of the skilled trade professionals employed by our agency.
Recognizing this, we work closely with our external legislative affairs team to increase public awareness of our mission and highlight the career opportunities available within the organization.
The ELA team has found new ways to promote these opportunities from Instagram and TikTok to sending job opportunities to elected officials who share with them residents in their respective districts.
Taken together, these factors made it clear that our traditional recruitment approach was no longer sufficient.
We needed a more strategic, data-driven, and proactive model, one that focused not only on filling vacancies, but also head-- on building talent pipelines, strengthening our employee brand, and creating a recruitment process that could compete effectively for skilled trade talent in a challenging labor market.
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