In a new and unique summer program, Fehr & Peers shared knowledge and discussions with students and recent graduates about two of our greatest passions: transportation and improving communities. The “Unfiltered Career Insights: 2020 Summer Program” was our very first transportation consulting training program. A total of 25 participants from across the country volunteered to take part in the program as a way of preparing for their careers in transportation, whether at Fehr & Peers or elsewhere, hence the objective, “unfiltered” nature of the training.

Participants kicked off the program by contributing to an “unfiltered” question and answer session about transportation consulting, discussing how current events have shaped the planning industry, and exploring ways consultants can influence positive change. Next, they met every Friday for six weeks to experience training, exercises, and project examples to apply learning. Program members gained a deeper understanding of the technical and soft skills required to be an effective transportation consultant, explored career paths in the industry, and gained exposure to an array of skills and insights in the following key areas:

The program even offered the opportunity for real-world application by incorporating small-group collaboration to prepare a presentation responding to a mock Request for Proposal, complete with mock interviews. After completing the program, students had great insights to share about their experiences.

Nearly 40 Fehr & Peers staff members participated in the program and were available along the way to provide training, offer guidance, and answer questions. We hope this program helped offer a way for these students and recent graduates to meet some of their future industry peers and build their professional networks. At the same time, we valued it as an opportunity to share knowledge with others passionate about the industry, even in these challenging times.

“Unfiltered Career Insights” began in 2016 as a Fehr & Peers webinar-based forum for up-and-coming transportation consultants to learn more about the industry and have some of their foremost questions answered. With the intentions of helping to guide students toward finding the career path best suited to their interests and preparing them to put their best forward, our commitment was to make sure those answers were objective, transparent, and unbiased – in other words, unfiltered. With that spirit in mind, we reinvented the series and paired it with our first training program. We’re now surveying the first program participants to see how we can improve and structure the program’s future, or possibly even expand it to provide more opportunities to welcome the next generation of transportation enthusiasts to the industry and move communities forward.