Getting ‘jazzed’ telling New Yorkers about city jobs on social media

Yume Kitasei spent her first day as New York City’s new Department of Citywide Administrative Services commissioner on the freezing roof of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building. Unlike some of the elected officials and reporters gathered there by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Kitasei seemed genuinely excited to be out in the frigid cold to announce that the rooftop would open to the public this summer.

“I was supposed to start later in the month and I was so excited about it that I moved up my start date,” Kitasei told City & State.

Kitasei has worked in public service for 15 years, previously serving as chief of staff to then-First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright during the Eric Adams administration and to then-City Council Member Margaret Chin.

As commissioner, Kitasei leads the Department of Citywide Administrative Services in providing resources to city agencies, such as employee recruitment, procurement and a slew of administrative responsibilities like leasing property and reducing carbon emissions. She describes DCAS as the “back-end agency that’s serving all the other agencies.”

City & State spoke with Kitasei a few months into the job about how the department is supporting city hiring, the thrall of a government job and the looming deadline for her next speculative fiction novel. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The New York City Department of Small Business Services is doing hiring halls again, and I noticed that DCAS has been holding civil service information sessions. What other work is DCAS doing to recruit and retain city workers?

City recruitment is hugely important for us, especially as agencies are staffing up (with) the 2-for-1 (hiring rule) going away. We have an office of recruitment that can help agencies recruit. We also think more broadly. As the stewards of the civil service system, we work very closely with every agency on their hiring strategies.

Are you experimenting with any new strategies?

It’s going to sound corny, but actually, the thing that I’m most jazzed about right now, as my team will tell you, is expanding our reach through social media. I think that there’s a huge untapped potential there, both through telling a broad swath of New Yorkers what jobs we have, but also explaining the civil service system and how you access those jobs.

Are there steps the city could take toward making it easier procedurally to recruit and get people through the civil service system?

First of all, I will just say I’m a huge fan of the civil service system. It was created over 100 years ago for a very good reason, and those reasons still remain, which is to ensure that our government is staffed based on merit. … But I do think that most people would agree that the system does need to be modernized, and so we’re working closely with our partners in labor and elected officials to build a vision of what that modern civil service looks like. So definitely more to come on that.

One of the changes at DCAS that City & State reported on in February were some firings and pay cuts as part of a reorganization related to efforts to root out corruption. Has the department continued to reorganize or terminate staff?

When I came in, I had a very clear vision about the way that I wanted to organize the leadership in order to make sure that we were positioned to deliver on the big things that we want to do. And I also want to make sure that people have confidence in DCAS as an agency of integrity. There are a lot of great staff here, and the changes we made were really about sort of juicing the structure and the ability to get things done. And I’m really excited that we brought in a new deputy commissioner for real estate, PJ Berg, who has a fantastic reputation. … He is right now doing a deep dive to build up the team and build our capacity and make sure that we have a good reputation for being good at what we do.

Have more employees been terminated since early February?

Not related to any restructuring. Obviously, there’s normal attrition. I came in with a pretty clear vision, so I was able to move pretty quickly on that. That was my goal, I wanted to start off at a run and I didn’t want to leave people with any sort of questions about what we’re here to do, and what the plan was going to be.

Is DCAS still conducting a review of contracts that were under former Deputy Commissioner for Real Estate Jesse Hamilton’s purview? Any updates, if so, on when that might be released?

Our new deputy commissioner for real estate, as part of his getting acquainted with the portfolio, is doing sort of a broader, deep dive into everything that has been done recently. We’re not working on a formal report, but obviously if we discover anything that needs to be shared, we’ll be sure to do so.

You started your career in government as an intern in the city comptroller’s office. What is your pitch for someone who is looking for a job in a very difficult job market and might want to consider city government work?

I love when I have the opportunity to pitch people on this. I’m always trying to convince my friends that city government is actually the best career that you can do. … When you meet city government employees, every single one is there because they want to make the city better, and they want to help New Yorkers. … The problems that you’re responding to are constantly changing, and you’re constantly meeting new people. … And if you’re somebody who likes to learn, there’s just an infinite number of things that you get to do. And I think people discount that the benefits in city government are actually really great.

You also have an illustrious career as an author of speculative fiction. Are you still finding time to write in the new job?

That depends, is my editor reading this interview? The short answer is, I am on deadline. So yes. But obviously, balancing a job like this with the writing, it’s a challenge.

Any sci-fi movies you’ve loved recently?

“Project Hail Mary” was amazing. Loved it.