SOCIETY CORNER: Mapping your Career Path

[insert-author-info] One of the biggest struggles as a marketing or business development professional in the AEC industry is still understanding development needs for our careers. As our departmental functions and skill sets evolve and grow, covering everything from writing to digital marketing to research and strategy, it’s important to have benchmarks for comparison. SMPS offers two great tools to map your career path that are free to members. (They are also available for purchase by non-members.) The first is “Blueprints: Guides for Marketing and Business Development Departments in the A/E/C Industry” which was created by a national taskforce of industry leaders. This amazing interactive document includes job descriptions and self-assessment tools for each level. It also works as a guide for managing Marketing and BD departments by giving recommendations for staffing depending on firm size and sample interview questions for candidates. Visit http://www.smps.org/Career/Blueprints/ to access the blueprints. The second resource is the SMPS marketing compensation survey which allows you to see how your compensation measures up against your peers, as well as see benchmarks for other positions. For more information on the compensation survey visit http://www.smps.org/mktgcompsurvey/.