New Albany HR Director Dwight L. Baker uses array of career ‘tools’

ALBANY — Dwight L. Baker’s official title with the city of Albany is director of Human Resources. But, with his vast array of experiences over a career that has centered mostly in our state capital, Baker might be best described as a tool collector.

“Every position I’ve been in, every job opportunity I’ve had, has allowed me to add more to my tool box,” Baker, who was born, raised and pretty much rooted in Atlanta, said as he talked with a visitor about his extensive list of job experiences. “Every new experience has allowed me to add to my skillset, allowed me to increase my knowledge.

“And as I face each new challenge, I’ve found that I’m able to use those tools that I’ve collected.”

Baker started work as Albany’s Human Resources director on Sept. 12 and it’s a position he deems vital to the running of the city government.

“I look at Human Resources as the catalyst of the organization,” he said. “This office is the first point of contact for anyone who has interest in pursuing a position with the city. I look on the position as one of ‘talent management.’ This is where we play a big role in bringing in the best talent to meet the city’s needs.”

Baker entered Atlanta’s Morris Brown University with plans to pursue a career in accounting, but he soon found that “all those debits and credits didn’t equal up.” An internship with the Georgia Lottery Corporation’s Human Resources department helped him realize he’d entered the wrong field.

“At some point, while working with the Georgia Lottery’s vice president for Human Resources, I said to myself, ‘I can make this a career,’” Baker said. “I found a passion for the work.”

Over the next several years, years in which Baker earned a doctorate degree and expanded his scope outside the familiarity of Atlanta — at least for a little while — he started filling up his impressive tool chest.

Before accepting his first position as director of Human Resources — with a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother who just happened to be city manager of College Park — Baker worked with an online gaming tech company (in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, no less). He also served as a flight attendant recruiter for Atlantic Southeast Airlines in Dallas, as a staffing service tech for the 1996 Olympic Games, and as HR coordinator for data processing, health care and hotel firms.

He jumped on the dot.com tech boom just before it went bust, worked in higher education and finally made the move into state government. After a five-year-plus stint in College Park, where he eventually became both HR and risk management director, Baker took a similar position in Macon-Bibb County. That experience was not exactly a career highlight.

“Speaking frankly, I was surprised at how abrasive the people there were,” he said. “I’d always believed that the further south you went, the friendlier the people were. That wasn’t the case there.”

Baker came back to Atlanta for a position with the University System of Georgia, but he eventually took off to finish writing his doctoral dissertation. He did contract work before being intrigued by the position in Albany.

“When I filled out the paperwork but didn’t finish a (required) video interview by the deadline, I called here and told them I hadn’t been feeling well,” Baker said. “When they were nice enough to extend the deadline a couple of days, I thought, ‘Hmm, there’s something there.’ Then, when a check (for moving expenses) didn’t make it to me by the time promised and I called to ask about it, the funds were transferred into my account within 15 minutes.

“I figured this place might turn out to be the kind of place I was looking for. I can tell you, there aren’t that many places that go the extra mile like they did here.”

Baker is still feeling his way around in Albany, but he’s been able to move seamlessly into his position with the city.

“It’s a little too soon to tell right now — I’ve only been here about a month — but everyone here has been so supportive and welcoming,” he said. “They’ve made this transition effortless for me. This is the kind of place that I can make my home.

“My personality fits in here, but the key thing jobwise is I understand the way a Human Resources office functions. At the end of the day, I am in a position to have a major impact on this city. That’s what I came here for.”