Blog
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December 4, 2023
Career Advice for Planning Students
Learn from planning directors about the skills and insights you need to be successful as a planner. -
September 19, 2023
Getting Hired: Compensation and Salary Negotiations
Members of the Women and Planning Division held a webinar offering their perspectives on how to approach compensation and salary conversations as part of the job offer. -
August 22, 2023
Getting Hired: Answering Tough Interview Questions
Panelists from APA's Women and Planning Division share advice on addressing questions related to job tenure, supervision experience, skills, and salary expectations. -
August 8, 2023
Getting Hired: Tips for Interviewing
APA's Women and Planning Division hosted a panel discussion offering insights on preparing for and succeeding in job interviews. -
May 15, 2023
Practical Tips to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in Your Workplace
Understanding the barriers to diverse planners' recruitment, retention, promotion, and leadership. How employers can promote a welcoming environment and encourage access to opportunities for career growth. -
July 29, 2022
Making Strategic and Ethical Practice Choices
A Guide for the Idealist: Rick Willson, FAICP, offers an original framework for decision-making in the planning process. Using reflection on choices considering types of information, and analysis tools, as well as addressing the values served and the planners interactions with the public and elected officials. -
February 25, 2022
Reflect | Act | Release
A Guide for the Idealist post from Rick Willson, FAICP expands on the process of reflection in practice as it works both at the moment and after the fact. Action is on a scale that can go from listening to forgiving. Release refers to letting go of personal expectations and doing one's best without the guarantee of the outcome. -
February 15, 2022
What Will the Third Stage of Your Planning Career Look Like?
APA member Eunice Roxann Read shares her personal career journey and gives insight into the resilience needed to continually adapt and thrive in the course of your work life. -
October 18, 2021
Reflection Reset: Pathways to Effective Practice
A Guide for the Idealist post on using reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action to make practical judgments on planning episodes that are grounded in ethical and practical considerations. -
October 11, 2021
Three Ways to Attract Diverse Talent
This post discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, particularly within planning organizations, in light of recent social and racial justice movements. -
August 17, 2021
Getting Started With EDI in Your Office
Learn how organizations are translating EDI values into actionable initiatives. Los Angeles and Denver, among others, are taking steps to promote diversity and equity. It also provides tips for expanding EDI efforts in small businesses and highlights WSP's global diversity focus. -
July 30, 2021
How Technology Is Shaping Planning and Your Career
Members of APA's Technology Division continue the conversation on the technical skills and knowledge that emerging professionals need to consider to keep pace with the future of planning. -
January 15, 2021
Reflection for Radical Planners
A Guide for the Idealist post: Planners need to be more reflective about their practice, and radical planners might adopt different reflective frameworks. -
November 13, 2020
Reflective Planning: Navigating Idealism and Realism
A Guide for the Idealist post: The value of professional reflection is widely recognized, but how do you do it? A new book looks at how to develop reflective habits. -
August 18, 2020
Being an Idealist in Difficult Times
A Guide for the Idealist post: Challenging times may challenge idealist commitments but they endure with a focus on higher ideals of justice, truth, and beauty. -
July 27, 2020
Changing Planning Practices to Honor George Floyd
A Guide for the Idealist post: Planners of all types have a role to play in addressing racial injustice by connecting each decision to its effects on the whole community. -
May 29, 2020
Cultivating Planning Career Resilience
The pandemic has caused a delay in the job search processes, leaving many challenges for recent grads and job seekers. In this Guide for the Idealist post, get ideas on how to keep moving forward with optimism. -
January 10, 2020
Reflex or Reflexivity: Which One Is Good for Planners?
A Guide for the Idealist post: Practicing reflexivity — asking "why" in the middle of things — is a skill worth developing for planners. -
December 13, 2019
Spinning Planning Experience into Practical Wisdom
A Guide for the Idealist post: Spending time reflecting on your planning experiences will develop a storehouse of practical wisdom that supports real-time practice decisions. -
October 15, 2019
Time Triage for Planning Managers
A Guide for the Idealist post: Determining priorities and managing time are skills worth developing for new planning managers. -
September 20, 2019
5 Keys to Igniting Your Job Search
Career coach and author Samorn Selim offers her top strategies to stay motivated during a job search. -
August 6, 2019
Negotiation Skills Are a Must for Planning Managers
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Negotiation skills are a must for planning managers, both inside the office and in the community. -
July 22, 2019
Planners, Here Are Your Keys to Successfully Facilitating Meetings
Meeting facilitation is a vital skill for planners' career success, but it takes a lot of practice to learn the key techniques. -
July 9, 2019
First-Time Planning Manager? Let Go, Step Up
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: New planning managers need to know when to let go and when to step up. -
July 1, 2019
International Planners: Tips on Finding a Job in the U.S.
The vice-chair of APA's International Division, Jing Zhang, shares his job search tips for international students on visas who want to stay and work in the U.S. -
April 8, 2019
Career Ordeals Await — You Can Build Resilience
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Be on the lookout for obstacles and ordeals that can help you be a more resilient planning professional. -
February 11, 2019
Do You Plan With Caution or Courage — or Both?
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: In the career of every planner, there is tension between personal hopes and preferences and the constraints of the process. -
January 8, 2019
Did I Take the Wrong Job?
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: What to do when you start a new job with high expectations and smack up against a reality that is much more complicated. -
October 16, 2018
I'm an Underworked Planner and I'm Losing Heart
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Exploring the other side of being too busy. What does the lack of job responsibilities mean for your career? -
October 5, 2018
Gain by Giving Back: 10 Reasons to Volunteer for Your Career
Angela Cleveland, AICP, shares 10 reasons why volunteering is a good career move. -
September 12, 2018
Tips for the Overworked Planner
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Practical tips on how to manage the pressures of professional practice to avoid overwork. -
August 13, 2018
The Workplace Conspiracy Against Change
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Tips for planners on how to be effective change-makers. Take a broad view of the change process and your role. -
July 24, 2018
Reframing Anxiety
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Useful anxiety in your planning practice deepens you and reminds you of the importance of choices. -
July 10, 2018
Moving Into Planning Management
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Tips for planners entering into management. -
June 5, 2018
7 Answers to Questions About Mentoring
A "Guide for the Idealist" post: Answers to common questions about mentoring. Mentors can help you interpret events, reflect on your practice, make decisions, and see the bigger picture. -
May 16, 2018
5 Scenarios for "Reading" Your Supervisor
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: An important career management ability is to see circumstances and issues through your supervisor’s eyes. They are not only managing you, they are managing a process. -
May 1, 2018
Finding Your Way to the Best Planning Job
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Choosing from among a variety of planning jobs can be made easier by doing research and assessing the employer. -
March 27, 2018
Trust: A Must-Have for Credibility, Influence, and Power
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Trust is a prerequisite to credibility, influence, and power and underlies effectiveness in your role as a planner. -
March 6, 2018
Credibility, Influence, and Power: How to Get It, How to Use It
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: How do you identify and integrate credibility, influence, and power in your career? -
January 29, 2018
The Value of College Internships
Student Internships can bring you closer to your goal of finding employment in the planning field. -
January 9, 2018
Theories of Change and Your Planning Career
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: How do planning theories of change affect planners both personally and professionally? -
November 28, 2017
Planning Theory: What Is It Good For?
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Think of planning theories as tools rather than expressions of truth. -
October 31, 2017
Mentoring and the Planning Fountain of Youth
"A Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Rick Willson speaks to his peers on why they should consider mentoring. The benefits include growth for both parties. -
September 11, 2017
So ... No Planning Degree?
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Direction for those interested in starting or changing careers in planning without a planning degree. -
August 15, 2017
Can I Work Part-Time as a Planner?
A "Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Answers to a member's question about part-time planning jobs, exploring the difference between permanent part-time work and gig-type employment. -
July 26, 2017
Should I Start a Planning Consulting Firm?
"A Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Some essential questions to ask yourself to determine your competitive advantage. There are risks involved in going on your own, but also great rewards. -
July 17, 2017
Fellowships Are Out There for Planners Like You
Wayne Feiden, FAICP, offers suggestions for mid- to senior-level planners on the process of winning a fellowship. -
July 7, 2017
Strategies for the Delayed Career Launch
"A Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Rick Willson, FAICP, gives encouraging advice to recent grads who are finding it hard to launch their planning careers. -
May 30, 2017
Organizational Dos and Don’ts for Your Career
"A Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Idealist planners should start their careers with a basic set of behaviors and then modify them to fit their workplace. -
April 25, 2017
How to Recognize (and Respond to) an Organization's Culture
"A Guide for the Idealist" blog post: Idealist planners succeed by understanding and adapting to an organization’s culture, whether it is a bureaucracy or a nonprofit.
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