Your Planning Career
Trying to land your first urban planning job?
Feeling stuck in your current role?
Wanting to take your planning career to the next level?
I support planners and aspiring planners looking to cultivate fulfilling
and exciting careers that make a positive impact and shape our world into a better place to live.
Kristy Kilbourne, MES (Pl.), MCIP, RPP, AICP
Planning Career Coach | Urban Planning Consultant | Planning Practice Researcher
I am proud to call myself a career champion of many inspiring planners who are absolutely rocking their careers and making huge impacts through their work!
I spent years working in the public sector in a variety of roles on the front lines of planning before transitioning into the private sector and academia. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found a career I love and I am extremely passionate about all things planning (even my Instagram handle is @passionateplanning!). In my own planning career, I have had the benefit of great mentors and professional development opportunities along the way - most of this was not by accident.
What I found in practice is that a gap existed in planning education, planning workplaces, and within the profession itself. Not all Planners and aspiring planners were receiving the career advice, guidance, and support they needed to navigate transitions such as breaking into the profession, moving into management, making a change geographically, or pivoting into to different areas or roles within the field in line with their evolving career and personal interests and circumstances. As a result, I sometimes see Planners struggling to enter the profession, giving up on their goals or aspirations, in less than ideal work conditions or mismatched to their interests and strengths, lacking mentorship, feeling overwhelmed or lacking confidence in their roles, facing extreme burnout, or worse - considering quitting the profession all together.
This is why I have committed to supporting Planners primarily through the Urban Planner Career Fundamentals Course which I have built with my best takeaways and resources from years of 1-on-1 coaching work with clients at all stages of their planning careers. I also provide workshops, advisory services, speaking, and undertake doctoral research to contribute to Planning Practice scholarship to address this critical gap and need.
I firmly believe that ideal roles and conditions exist for most Planners within our profession and when we can match Planners with ideal roles and conditions, provide them with support, professional communities, and environments where they can learn, grow, and thrive, that's where the magic happens.
Well supported, happy, and engaged Planners = the best possible outcomes for our communities.
As a Planning Career coach who has been in this industry for years, I compiled all of my expertise into an accessible course which helps planners and aspiring planners:
- Make a career pivot into planning from another field
- Land a great first planning job or seek out their next perfect opportunity
- Prepare for pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies in planning
- Identify their unique strengths and skills and find their “niche” in planning
- Find alignment between personal and professional goals and aspirations
- Learn important skills and tools that will help throughout their careers
- Effectively market themselves and their planning skill sets
- Build and leverage their professional networks
- Set professional goals and establish a roadmap to achievement of those goals
- Become more impactful, effective, and confident planners
Urban Planner Career Fundamentals Course
A course designed specifically for planners and aspiring planners to help you gain clarity, market yourself effectively, network, and set yourself up for success in your urban planning career.
Join many planners and aspiring planners who have successfully landed new planning roles, made big career pivots and become more successful, advancing their careers and their impact.
Learn more!
Client Results
What my clients are saying
After my first real planning job I was feeling lost, confused and like I had chosen the wrong career. After working with Kristy I have felt that initial love for Planning come back as well as helping regain confidence as a planner.
- Victoria
Working with Kristy has been one of the best investments I have ever made, and I regret not working with her sooner! I have not only become more confident with the job application process, but I have also become much more confident as a planner. I have advanced my career in the exact way I had hoped to, and if you are feeling stuck in your career or in the job search, I cannot recommend coaching enough.
- Edward
I would recommend Kristy's coaching to any planners looking to break into their field, looking at a career pivot, refreshing their job search skills and everything in between. I realized through coaching that all I really needed was a little support and encouragement. I went into the program unsure of if I would be able to find work, let alone in a role that I wanted. With Kristy’s help I got job offers for every role I interviewed for!
- Emilia
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