A planning careers hub: build it right and they will come

Simon Creer is the RTPI's director of communications 

Every political generation has a buzzword; a concept or tag line that that seems to emerge out of nowhere to dominate every major announcement and be offered as a panacea to whatever problem is being addressed. The Cameron years were all about ‘nudge’ and during New Labour it was all about that ‘third way’.

For a while there it was impossible to move without bumping into a ‘one stop shop’ for some service or another. But soon enough everything became ‘digital first’.

It has become clear over the last 18 months or so, that this Labour government will leave a legacy of ‘hubs’. As part of the budget’s package of support for planning there was a commitment to one such hub for planning careers. Now the question is, what does that actually mean?

The RTPI’s state of the profession published before the budget analysed the current condition of the planning workforce and gives a clear indication of what needs to happen in the careers space. With as many as 20% of planners considering leaving the profession in the coming years through retirement or career change retention is clearly a big issue.
 
Add to that the government’s commitment to bringing in as many as 350 new planners every year and it becomes clear that recruitment is another key issue. 

We are also all to aware of the various changes happening in planning at local and combined authority level, and in relation to local government reorganisation. This will mean a great deal of professionals moving jobs and positions. So, stretching the alliteration as far as it will go, relocation is the third issue.

That sets a pretty clear trio of things the Planning Careers Hub needs to try and solve. 
Recruitment, retention and relocation. 

Done well, populated with all the necessary resources to tackle these issue and given prominence for all appropriate materials and sign posts, the hub could be an incredibly useful thing for our members and those who hope to become members one day. Done poorly, and it could become just another buried page on the enormous gov.uk site. 

Myself and colleagues are ready to help HCLG develop this new hub and ensure that the right materials are there for all three of the issues we face. But for hubs to be successful people need to know they are there and find them useful. This is especially crucial if we are trying to attract new talent into the sector who may not even be aware of the opportunities available; be they students, mid-career switchers or senior leaders. 

To capture the attention of an audience as broad as that is going to take some innovative thinking and making sure that the awareness of the hub is high. This is not the Field of Dreams. Just because they build it doesn’t mean they will come. 

For the hub to achieve what it sets out to do there needs to be a clear strategy of getting it under the noses of those who may find it useful and choose planning as a career path. 

If Government can pull off that trick then there’s a chance that the Planning Careers Hub won’t become just another buzzword for political archaeologists to date the era of its creation.