Abstract:
This paper investigates the capabilities and attributes needed by planning practitioners to manage themselves during their early career phase. These are the attributes that complement an early career professional’s technical skills and knowledge. Five established capability scales were used: (1) personal; (2) interpersonal; (3) generic (4) intellectual and (5) profession-specific knowledge. 53 attributes were identified. This paper focusses in particular on the implications of the differences between managers of early career planners and the early career planners themselves. The paper also brings to the fore the importance of life-wide learning in developing these capabilities as the early career planner progresses from graduation.