As graduation looms and the job hunt begins, soon-to-be planning grads are experiencing a flood of questions: Should I serve an urban community or a rural one? Join the staff of a metropolitan powerhouse or a post-industrial community navigating redevelopment? Serve at the federal, state, regional, or local level? Work on housing, transportation, or sustainability? At the end of the day, where can I make the biggest impact?

Many planning students enter the profession with a strong commitment to public service, which often means the private sector isn’t top of mind. Yet private sector planning can offer emerging planners a distinct and rewarding path. We asked our newest planners to give their perspective on why they chose the private sector path, and here’s what we heard.

Gain Exposure

As the field of planning is constantly evolving, consultants are doing things for the first time, all the time. With numerous client communities, all home to their own set of planning challenges and aspirations, you are rapidly exposed to a wide range of planning topics and techniques, as well as local and regional demographic and planning trends—more than you would ever experience in the public sector. This allows you to explore local solutions, while thinking more expansively about larger societal issues, such as housing affordability, economic development, sustainability, and resiliency.

“I chose consulting because I wanted exposure to a wide range of communities and planning challenges early in my career,” said Saj Elle McBurrows, Assistant Planner and a Winter 2025 graduate from the University of Michigan. “For recent grads, its a great way to grow professionally while still figuring out what parts of planning you’re most passionate about.”

Not only does being a consultant help you see the bigger picture of planning, but naturally, the role helps you to identify sub-topics of planning that you are more drawn to, allowing you to chart your career more intentionally.

Serve Diverse Communities

Rather than only serving one community at a time, being a consultant allows you to be a part of planning solutions in diverse communities, geographically, demographically and economically. You’ll have the opportunity to listen to and engage with the unique histories, experiences, and priorities of rural and urban communities alike, and to work with these communities to co-design context-specific and culturally sensitive solutions.

“The most impactful benefit to starting out in consulting as a post-grad planner is the ability to work in multiple community contexts, all with varying goals for their local economy, built environment, and long-term sustainability,” said Paige Smith, an Assistant Planner and recent Michigan State University grad. “Each municipality we work with has given me the opportunity to approach planning-related issues from a fresh perspective.”

Being a consultant also allows you to gain an understanding of the regional, state, and federal planning bodies that influence local planning realities, and in many cases, you’ll have the opportunities to build working relationships with their staff and tools.

Work With a Team of Planners

At McKenna, we like to remind new planners that they should never be stuck “spinning their wheels” when facing planning issues for the first time. Working at a consulting firm means you can readily learn from and become inspired by a cohort of more experienced planners, who regularly offer helpful guidance and hard-won best practices. You also won’t be required to be an expert in every aspect of planning on day one; you can lean on others at the firm for skills you are still developing.

“Consulting makes a deep bench of experts in the field accessible,” said Smith. “I haven’t encountered a situation yet that a Senior Planner doesn’t have experience with from another community.”

Build Soft, Transferrable Skills

As a consultant, you are called on to wear countless hats. In a single day, you might be writing a compelling proposal for a project in a new community, managing the budget of a Master Plan update, analyzing local housing affordability data, and presenting about a zoning amendment to a Planning Commission and the public. Consultants are writers, listeners, public speakers, project managers, salespeople, and advocates. Beyond the technical skills that this profession requires, as a consultant, you will develop and hone a repertoire of soft skills that can be applied to any future project or career path.

“The combination of working with some of the Midwest’s most vetted planners, and adapting to a diverse range of community needs and goals has made for a ton of learning and personal growth in my first 8 months as a consultant,” said Smith.

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All in all, there is no right place to start a career in planning, but a consulting firm can offer the planning variety, client diversity, team atmosphere, and constant learning opportunities to continually grow as a planner. Want to learn more about our day-to-day? Let’s chat! Find us at an upcoming Career Fair, take a look at our open positions, or send us a note.

Taking Action at McKenna: To introduce student and recently-graduated planners to private practice planning, McKenna offers a robust internship program and entry-level planning positions. Our interns and Assistant Planners jump directly into our planning teams and play active roles in ongoing projects. Whether the day is spent shadowing senior staff at meetings, learning new data and spatial analysis techniques, or gaining community engagement experience within our client communities, all of our newest staff members get exposed to the pace and variety of consulting, as well as a wide range of planning and zoning realities.