AUBURN – Interpersonal skills, the ability to encourage residents and staff and a willingness to delegate tasks and authority are part of what residents and officials want in a new city manager.

A recruitment profile for the city’s top job also says having a college degree in public or business administration, a proven track record in municipal management and experience in economic development are key to landing the job.

“It’s a short profile, and some of it seems repetitive, but it comes down to having more of an open-office style of management,” said City Councilor Eric Samson.

The profile was created for the city by The PAR Group Ltd., a Chicago-based executive search firm, after 20 interviews with councilors, city staff and residents. It includes some basic information about Auburn – its history, size and demographic statistics like housing prices, educational opportunities and the size of the municipal budget.

The profile lists economic development, cooperation with Lewiston and the city budget as the top three challenges for the new manager.

“It’s almost like a flyer for a college application,” Samson said.

The profile also lists 28 management style and personal traits that will be important for the new hire. Those call for strong interpersonal skills, the ability to bring people together and build trusting relationships. The new manager should be a people person, sincerely personable, approachable, patient and accessible and should also be self-confident, diplomatic, decisive and a visionary leader.

It lists the starting salary for the job as between $90,000 and $100,000 per year, depending on qualifications and experience.

The entire profile is available on the Internet, at www.pargroupltd.com/Auburn.html.

City Manager Pat Finnigan announced her resignation in February, effective in June. She’d been Auburn’s manager since 1995.

Councilors agreed to hire the search firm in July, after taking bids from four executive search firms. Bids for the job came in between $22,000 and $25,000 to find a new city manager.

Samson said the PAR group collects applications and recommends a short list to councilors for interviews. Samson said he expects those interviews will be done by the new council and mayor, elected in next month’s municipal election.