“There’s no way to execute on that kind of ambitious policy agenda without excellent leadership,” Wong said, adding that she hopes that by pushing jobs and infrastructure first and getting bipartisan legislative victories, Clinton will be in a stronger position to push other parts of her agenda in Congress.

Similar lists of recommendations are coming in from other quarters, but Fallon declined to discuss any personnel plans.

Of roughly 4,000 political jobs to fill, more than 1,000 require Senate confirmation. Internal vetting, security clearances and ethics checks can take months.

Former Utah governor Mike Leavitt, who served in Republican President George W. Bush’s Cabinet and oversaw transition planning for Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign, said it is not too early to begin identifying candidates for roughly 300 jobs that are deemed “critical,” many of which require Senate confirmation.

“The first task is you have to put a team on the field,” Leavitt said, “and the task of getting a senior person into the job goes far beyond just choosing them.”