The Best Places to Find Event Planning Careers

As you probably already know, there are many outlets that promote themselves as the best place to find event planning careers. Just entering a search term in Google will show you that there are literally millions of URLs that promote event planning careers. However, I’ve often found that some insight from industry professionals helps narrow the field of where to look effectively.

Industry associations often promote event planning careers

The meetings and events industry is one of the largest industries in the country. While that can be taken as good news as far as potential employment opportunities go, it can also mean that there are many promoted avenues available for finding event planning careers. I use the word promoted on purpose in that last sentence. The problem with promoted is that while it may appear on the first few pages of a Google search, it doesn’t always mean that it is the best resource for you.

Of course the industry’s largest association, MPI (meeting professionals international) has a jobs and community section on its website. A quick glance will show you that association members are posting job opportunities here. And as the association has thousands of members, you can be comfortable knowing that the jobs and careers listed are reputable.

I’ve mentioned before that I always raise a caution flag when you see any job posting that is asking you to pay for something before they provide you with additional information. These sites (and there are many of them) are basically trying to sell you something rather than provide you with solid job opportunities.

Another meeting and event Association is ISES. ISES (International Special Events Society) is an association design to educate and communicate with event planners and suppliers alike. On the ISES website they also have a career center page where members can post their job openings. In addition, ISES also provides training for the CSEP designation (Certified Special Events Professional). This certificate recognizes meeting and event professionals who’ve successfully demonstrated knowledge, skill and ability that is essential for special event planning.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, joining meeting and event planning associations is one of the best ways to introduce and establish yourself in the event planning industry. These associations provide networking events, industry trade shows and educational programs all designed to improve the standards within the industry.

Job Websites for Event Planning Careers

of course visiting job websites do provide some information on the various jobs that are available for event planning careers. For example monster.com is very robust and can provide a job search for pretty much any location where you are looking. Just remember that when applying on these online job sites that you are competing with sometimes tens of thousands of applicants. As the old adage goes – you only have one chance to make a first impression. So make sure you promote yourself in a way that makes you stand out amongst the crowd.