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LCG Helps the American Planning Association Develop Emerging Professional Planners

Angela Zahas and Dave Siegel

The American Planning Association (APA) is the world’s largest planning organization. With over 40,000members, APA’s annual national conference attracts over 5,000 planning professionals and planning officials. This year’s annual conference, held in April in Phoenix, Arizona, was attended by professional planners, planning students and educators, engaged citizens and allied professionals from all over the nation – and worldwide. The conference offered hundreds of sessions for professional planners at all career levels and areas of expertise. Realizing that young planners are the future of the profession, APA offered a full-day institute for “emerging professionals” – those who were still in school looking for how to succeed in getting that first professional job, or those who were in entry-level positions, looking for tips in how to advance to the next level of their career. The 2016 Emerging Professionals Institute was again sponsored by Leland Consulting Group (LCG), and LCG’s senior project manager David Siegel, FAICP was among the six faculty members conducting the Institute. This year’s Institute engaged attendees in exercises and discussions on a broad range of topics, including: constructing an effective resume; developing a succinct “elevator pitch”; preparing for and “nailing” the interview; dressing for success; effective communication skills; and career avenues and decisions focusing on the questions: “what do planners really do?”. The 2016 Emerging Professionals Institute was attended by over 40 young professionals – a true measure of success for APA, who is looking forward to the 2017 Institute, to be held in conjunction with the APA national planning conference in New York City. For more information, contact David Siegel (dsiegel@lelandconsulting.com, 503-222-1600) or Monica Groh, APA’s Director of Emerging Professionals (mgroh@planning.org).

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