Case Study

Building a stronger leadership pipeline for hard-to-fill principal roles

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools · Los Angeles, CA · 2023–2024
10+
Principal candidates
Stronger delivered a pool of qualified candidates aligned to Alliance’s leadership priorities.
2yrs
Leadership challenge
Alliance faced an ongoing principal pipeline shortage following post-pandemic leadership transitions.
3
Key outcomes
The engagement strengthened external recruitment strategy, improved market understanding, and clarified future hiring expectations.
The Challenge

A leadership gap with growing urgency

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools is one of the largest public charter school networks in Los Angeles focused on preparing historically underserved students for college success. Stronger partnered with Alliance to support principal recruitment and strengthen leadership hiring strategy during a period of post-pandemic transition.

Three core needs drove this engagement:

The Approach

Responsive recruiting in a difficult market

1
Clarify leadership profile and priorities

Stronger worked closely with Alliance to define the leadership experience, turnaround expertise, and diversity priorities needed for open principal roles. Early conversations helped align expectations around the realities of the market.

2
Launch targeted candidate outreach

The team conducted proactive external sourcing and outreach to identify experienced school leaders beyond Alliance’s internal network. Recruitment efforts focused on candidates aligned to mission, leadership readiness, and school turnaround experience.

3
Adapt strategy based on market feedback

As candidate market realities became clearer, Stronger adjusted outreach strategy and maintained close communication with Alliance throughout the process. The team remained responsive and flexible despite a difficult labor market.

4
Support finalist selection and negotiations

Stronger helped Alliance evaluate finalists, navigate compensation conversations, and refine its broader external recruitment strategy for future searches.

Outcomes
What Alliance College-Ready Public Schools gained
Expanded candidate pipeline
Alliance received a strong pool of principal candidates and expanded its understanding of the external leadership market.
Clearer market expectations
The engagement provided valuable insight into compensation expectations, candidate availability, and the realities of recruiting experienced turnaround principals.
Improved recruitment strategy
Alliance refined its external sourcing approach and strengthened long-term recruitment planning for future leadership searches.
Stronger leadership readiness
The process helped clarify succession needs, strengthen leadership hiring practices, and build a stronger foundation for future principal recruitment.
Stronger Consulting was a responsive partner throughout the search process and maintained consistent communication in a challenging hiring market. - Angela L. Manuel, VP, Talent Acquisition
Stronger Insight
What made this engagement meaningful was the partnership approach, staying flexible, transparent, and responsive while helping the client navigate a uniquely difficult leadership market. - Mike Montoya, CEO, Stronger Consulting

Is your organization ready for its next chapter?

Stronger Consulting partners with mission-driven organizations to turn complex challenges into clear, practical action — from strategy through implementation.

Let's talk.
Mike Montoya
mike@strongerconsulting.com
Ron Rapatalo
ron@strongerconsulting.com
(310) 400-0532
strongerconsulting.com