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There is a huge range of career opportunities within transport. The nature of the work is such that it is easy to move from one sector to another as your interests and career develop.

You can work in the private, public and voluntary sectors. You can work in planning, in design, in implementation, in operations and in trying to help people arrange their lives to travel less. You can work in consultancy, in construction, in local or regional government, with public and freight transport operators or logistics specialists, or in aviation or sea transport.

Members of the UTP Employers’ Forum have a commitment to the professional development of their staff, supporting staff studying for transport Masters at UTP universities and they take an active interest in the content and delivery of UTP Masters courses through regular Employers’ Forum meetings with the universities. With that commitment, they are an excellent first stop for anyone with a transport Masters, or planning to study for one, who is considering a career as a transport professional.

You might have a job which enables you to work regular hours and rarely need to go away from your home base, or you might have one which involves regular travel, both within the UK and internationally. You might work largely within an established team, or you might work with people from a variety of different organisations, and your work could involve extensive interaction with the public, and with local councillors.

Because of the nature of the skills required, professionals working in transport come from many different disciplines, engineering, economics, statistics, social science, geography, town planning, environment studies, and many others. This adds a key attraction - you will not be working just with people with a similar academic and professional background to yours - you will be able to work in truly multi-disciplinary teams.

Research among transport planners has shown that 85% are either very satisfied or satisfied with their choice of career. With all the challenges facing society as it deals with growing demand for travel - and for the transport of goods - there is a strong demand for trained professionals, particularly those with a Masters in Transport.

Several employers of transport planners feature in The Sunday Times Best Companies Guide.  The 2009 listing, published in June 2008, includes Atkins, Mott MacDonald and Mouchel among the 20 best big companies to work for, and Arup, FaberMaunsell and Ramboll WhitbyBird among best medium sized companies..

The members of the Universities' Transport Partnership offer a wide range of Masters courses, all of which can be followed full time, over a year, or part time, typically over two or three years.

Key skills transport professionals need to have are numeracy, an ability to communicate well in writing and orally, and an ability to work well within teams. You will also need to become a good project manager.

If you are not sure whether transport is the right career for you, undergraduates at UK universities can apply for a summer work placement under a scheme operated by the Transport Planning Society. The scheme opens early each in spring each year, and those offered a placement are expected to work for at least six months. Further details can be found on the TPS website.

A new Transport Planning Professional (TPP) qualification has been introduced by the Institution of Highways and Transportation in partneship with the Transport Planning Society. Designed to be the equivalent of other professional qualifications - including Chartered Engineer - and available to those who are members of either IHT or TPS.. More information is at www.tpprofessional.org.

There is now an industry standard Professional Development Scheme for transport planners, developed by the Transport Planning Society. This is beeing adopted by a growing number of employers replacing or supplementing the graduate training schemes some of them currently offer. The TPS scheme has been designed to meet the requirements of the new Transport Planning Professional (TPP) qualification as well as those for Chartered membership of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics. Some employers offer training schemes to satsfy the needs of the Institution of Civil Engineers for Chartered Engineer and others of the the Royal Town Planning Institute. See the links page for access to each of these.

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