Blogs

February 25, 2025

Well-Being at Work: Finding a Job that Values Mental Health

Figuring out whether a potential employer values employee mental health can be overwhelming, but there are ways to prioritize workplace well-being during your job search.

Embracing Conflict: A Planner’s Journey (blog featured image)

June 18, 2024

Embracing Conflict: Honing Your Conflict Management Skills

Conflict is increasingly permeating through every aspect of our lives — and community meetings are no exception.

May 3, 2024

Five Career Planning Steps for Everyone

The importance of creating a five-year career plan and seeking guidance from experienced colleagues.

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.

July 6, 2023

Understanding Opportunities and Challenges in Publicly Traded Planning Firms

Uncovering JAPA: Understanding how to balance the opportunities and challenges of working in a publicly traded planning firm.

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.

March 3, 2023

Understanding a Career in Urban Design

From APA's Urban Planning and Design Division - learn about what a career in urban design entails.

January 30, 2023

Not Quite Ready For Retirement

Mark Hinshaw reflects back on a 40-year career in urban planning. Aging, dealing with a layoff, and not ready to retire, Mark had to get creative to find a soft landing to close out his long-tenured career.

December 7, 2022

Finding Meaning in Municipal Careers: Insights From Planning Directors

Municipal planning careers can be the main focus of one’s work life — or one chapter of a larger story.

September 19, 2022

7 Tips for Starting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committees

As municipal planning departments adopt a fairness and equity mindset in their work with the communities they serve it highlights the state of their workplace practices and the work needed to elevate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) goals within the planning firms and public agencies.

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.

January 25, 2022

Hiring Neurodiverse People to Enhance Planning Teams

Planners are increasingly aware of neurodiversity, focusing on fostering community engagement and advocating for inclusion in the workplace. Neurodiversity, encompassing variations like autism, offers a broader perspective on human differences, relevant to planning and the built environment.

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.

December 4, 2020

A Path to an Enlightened Planning Future

Incoming AICP President Mitchell Silver outlines upcoming changes to the AICP certification program that represent continued evolution and relevance to the needs of planners and communities.

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.

November 13, 2020

AICP Digital Credentials: A New Benefit for an Online World

Digital credentials are more than just a badge or image. This new free member benefit is tied securely to your certification record and backed by APA.

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.

October 1, 2019

Seal of Expertise, Credibility, and Ethics: Benefits of AICP Certification

Wendy Shabay, AICP, finds that there's a direct correlation between the AICP credential and the success her firm has had in building relationships with local communities.

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.

March 18, 2019

Enhancing the Value of the AICP Credential

The American Institute of Certified Planners is invaluable to all planners as they establish, grow, and excel in their careers.

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.