Career Advice For Aspiring Supply Chain Professionals
In an increasingly global economy, skilled supply chain professionals will be in continuous demand. With that in mind, we developed a short list of questions and asked some logistics professionals to share their thoughts on career paths, advice on courses and much more. Those questions, and our professionals’ answers can be found below.
1. If a student were looking to get into supply chain management, what courses should they focus on and what skills should will be most valuable in the industry and most important in helping them succeed?
First, selecting a school is supremely important. Just like choosing a business school, choosing a college that offers at least certification in supply chain and logistics should be a minimal requirement. Beyond that, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of statistics. It is through statistics that students will grasp the basics of the analytical tools needed to do good institutional forecasting.
- Jason Averill
This isn't really an easy question to answer. There are three main parts to supply chain management: manufacturing/operations, purchasing/procurement, and transportation/logistics. A well rounded school will offer classes in each to allow students to determine which area they like the most. Then there should be electives in each so that more practice and knowledge can be obtained. Some schools have operations separate from logistics, so the student might need to have more of an idea of what each entails before going into the class. If there are job titles and positions that interest the student, but they really don't know what the position does, always ask a professor to help explain the concept. I had that happen with an internship. I got a list of 10 opportunities, but I had no idea what any of them meant. I sent it to a professor and he gave me layman's terms for each. It made my decision a lot easier.
- Joy Nakfoor
Traditional business courses plus a range of logistics courses like transportation, procurement, supply and warehousing. Albany State University’s Logistics Integrated Virtual Enterprise (LIVE) is a well-rounded program. The LIVE environment at ASU is a virtual company where students act as interns in various supply chain disciplines learning functional expertise in an integrated context.
- Phil Harris
Business both domestic and international, communications courses and intermediate computer courses should be the focus. Communication and analytical skills are needed at all levels of logistics. To be able to approach a problem and think of many different solutions and then to communicate and support those solutions is paramount.
- Nick Tweardy
Ideally, students will be enrolled in a supply chain management program - there are many excellent programs available at colleges and universities across the country - to be most effectively trained in the industry. If enrolled in a standard liberal arts program, key areas of study should include business law, geography, mathematics and social sciences (in order to better understand cultural differences that can impact business relationships). Foreign language is certainly a plus, with Mandarin and Spanish of top benefit.
- Terri Danz
viastore has found that in technical fields communication skills are often lacking. While technical expertise is certainly important, people skills are as, if not more, important. To fulfill ancillary credits I would suggest taking a communications, public speaking or entrepreneurial class.
- Marcello Robertson
2. If there is such a thing as a “typical career path” what would it look like?
Internship in some supply chain function within a company. Job offer into the same or similar entry level job. After a few years of grunt work, getting a few people under you to manage. Potentially switching to a different are of SCM to better understand how that function works. After 5-10 years experience, General Manager or Director position. Potentially a MBA after 3-5 years experience. APICS, 6Sigma, SAP, other certifications.
- Joy Nakfoor
The skills needed are the ability to integrate the components of logistics and supply chains and understand their interaction. In addition, a student should focus on problem solving, collaboration and good verbal and written communication skills. The combination of these will help students succeed.
- Phil Harris
There are many different paths within the supply chain from the IT side to
operations. The key is to get in and get experience with the industry. With
industry knowledge and experience at any level it will open the door to the
other paths that you may be interested in.
- Nick Tweardy
People enter the supply chain management field from a variety angles, but a typical path would be to start with entry-level documentation on the transportation side of a forwarder or carrier or customs entry writing on the import clearance side. From there, a person would delve deeper into operations and possibly spend some time in sales with a focus on better understanding of what importers and exporters (the beneficial cargo owners) need and where their concerns and priorities lie. Alternatively, one could start in import/export traffic for a beneficial cargo owner and work upward through the ranks of their company's supply chain management department or division. I strongly recommend that one spends time working on both sides - importer/exporter and forwarder/carrier/broker - in order to understand 360 degrees of supply chain management.
- Terri Danz
Each college or university with this major is going to lay out a suggested course path for you to take. With those elective classes refer to my response about for suggestions about classes to take. Beyond that, find as many internships or relatable job experiences as possible. Another suggestion would be to participate and lead student organizations related to your field, or even unrelated. Employers want to see that you can manage your time, communicate with others and have leadership qualities.
- Marcello Robertson
3. In an entry level position, what types of tasks and responsibilities should a student expect to take on?
Again, it somewhat depends on the function you're doing. If you're in purchasing, expect to look up different rates and pricing between competition, reviewing budgets (actually in all functions) to see where your spend fits with the budgeted spend, forecasting based on last year's numbers and last few months numbers. In transportation, it will be following shipments to make sure they're on time and with the right products, calling truck drivers to see if they'll be on time for pick up/delivery, analyzing various trucking companies reliability (how often they're on time and possibly what is getting shipped each time). In manufacturing, it would most likely be working a shift job (very common for starting off), knowing the run rates (how much is getting produced on each line/hr or /shift), quality control (making sure the products fit into the specified guidelines), maybe even working on the line to understand what is involved in the manufacturing process, doing more analysis of workers, individual lines (products or physically one production line versus another), pretty much anything. Probably more grunt work than the person wants to do, but it will give them a better understanding of how it all works. A lot of analysis of how things are compared to last year. Get to know Excel!
- Joy Nakfoor
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in logistics management at an institution that focuses on integrated learning such as the one ASU offers. Secure an internship within the last two years of study at a company that allows students to move around the company and gain experience in multiple logistics and supply chain functions. An entry level job in procurement or in warehouse or transportation management is a realistic job expectation.
- Phil Harris
Expect to continue your learning process into those first few years of your career. While your time at college or university is invaluable learning the specific business or industry that you land a job is going to be another learning curve. Be assured that if you feel in over your head that you are completely normal. At the same time, don’t sit around and wait for directions to be given. If you have completed the task at hand and your manager isn’t available to given you additional direction, take the initiative and be proactive with your time. Everyday go to work asking yourself, “what is the most valuable thing I can do with my time today?”
- Marcello Robertson
Students should expect to take on training on applications that will be used, including testing functionality within those applications and documentation of testing and/or training and other aspects along the way
for projects.
- Nick Tweardy
The student should expect to handle basic documentation, cargo tracking and customer service, whether working for an importer/exporter or forwarder/carrier/broker. They will likely learn to liaison with various service providers such as truckers and steamship lines, as well as colleagues on each end of the supply chain.
- Terri Danz
4. What kinds of varying positions / jobs / experiences should a new hire seek out to become well-rounded supply chain professional and make them marketable in the industry?
I would suggest working for both small and large companies. It’s important for you to gain exposure to different company types and structures in order to discover what you enjoy the most and where you best fit. Optimally you would do this through intern experiences. Beyond that once you do choose an industry or area of interest it may be difficult to switch to a completely different industry and apply your specific knowledge elsewhere. Again, utilize your opportunities for work and interns in college to try different industries and see what you get excited about then pursue that industry for your career.
- Marcello Robertson
Once again, the choice of who to work for is paramount. Someone with 10 years of experience is not going to “fix” a manufacturing company that has developed bad production habits over the past 50 years, it just doesn't happen. There are certainly “rock stars” in the field, and you can find them by joining organizations like the American Society of Transportation & Logistics, the Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning and APICS. By the way, a sign of a good school for supply chain and logistics studies is that they will have active student chapters of any or all of these organizations.
- Jason Averill
There is a delicate balance here. Some companies want you to only have experience in one area whereas others want you to be well rounded in each of them. If the student can get an internship in one area, talk to people in the other areas to get a better understanding of what each does at that specific company. Also realize, that different companies have SC functions under different departments. Some have a complete supply chain department while others have purchasing under Finance and/or Marketing. It is important to know that they will most likely be working on teams with people in other functions. It's not uncommon to work with Marketing (very common), Finance, Engineering, R&D. So working in cross-functional teams is very important to understand. As well as working with facilities that will be in a different country and on a different continent. A lot of manufacturing is in Asia, call centers are in India, R&D are in the Middle East.
Some companies stress the importance of certifications, so finding a job that will help train, study, and pay for certifications is good. Try and stick any job out for at least 1.5 - 2 years. They will gain experience and knowledge that will help them going further and will look better on their resume for future employers. I switched industries with every new job that I got. To me, the knowledge I had from my jobs were transferrable, so industry didn't matter. To some people/companies it is important to have prior industry experience. The only area that might be more prone to have biases would be operations. If the student has some engineering knowledge, that might help with finding operations jobs, but it's not a strict rule.
- Joy Nakfoor
Responsibilities will likely include assisting in normal functional responsibilities plus, researching potential vendors, analyzing transportation and warehousing costs; also participating in integrated teams to analyze supply chain strategies and efficiencies. What kinds of varying positions / jobs / experiences should a new hire seek out to become a well-rounded supply chain professional and make them marketable in the industry?
New hires should seek opportunities that demonstrate their ability to work on a team, understand the technologies involved and problem solve. For instance, they should be able to show they understand where procurement fits in the logistics chain.
- Phil Harris
Operations - Planning or coordinating the transportation of a company's freight.
Freight Pay - Working with the financial side of operations.
IT - Working with systems in any capacity (improving/streamlining user experience, learning better or new ways to perform daily responsibilities within the applications).
- Nick Tweardy
I highly recommend that someone entering the field seek out opportunities on both the beneficial cargo owner side and the service provider side. In this way, the person will develop an understanding of the priorities and needs of the beneficial cargo owner (and how to service them as a forwarder/carrier/broker) as well as how the pieces of the supply chain are put together and costs are negotiated on the forwarder/carrier/broker side (in order to best negotiate with them when acting as a beneficial cargo owner).
- Terri Danz
5. What differences are there between working for a large (national or international) company compared to a smaller, regional one?
In a small company you will find yourself closer to the vendors and closer to the issues that make forecasting so difficult. You will see decisions made that in larger companies are made in board rooms.
- Jason Averill
Larger companies have bigger budgets to deal with, but there is also more politics that need to be played and dealt with. An employee pretty much does one function at a large company and needs to network and make contacts in another area to switch positions. There are opportunities for internal advancement, but there will be more people competing for the same job. Benefits (health care - though this will change soon, discounts, moving allowances, international opportunities, etc) could be greater at a large company...if they haven't had a bankruptcy. A smaller company allows each person to do more than just one job. Most of the time, everyone is "wearing multiple hats". There are a lot of opportunities to learn and grow with responsibilities. Could be family politics to deal with. Might have to prove companies abilities more than a larger company.
- Joy Nakfoor
See my note above about trying both types of environments if possible. In general though with large companies expect more structure, specific direction and a team of individuals who are most likely doing the same type of work that you are. With an international company expect cultural and communication challenges with your international colleagues. This can be a great learning experience. With a small, regional company expect to wear a lot of hats, have little direction, to take on projects on your own and to never have two days the same.
- Marcello Robertson
The larger the company, the more you specialize in a single function. In a smaller company, your responsibilities are much broader across logistics disciplines.
- Phil Harris
Large companies are less personal and are not as open to ideas as smaller ones are.
- Nick Tweardy
There are two key differences between working with a small versus a large company when supply chain management is involved. Larger, national or international firms will have greater resources to solve problems and the leverage to negotiate the most competitive rates. On the other hand, in these larger companies - particularly when it comes to carriers and forwarders - procedures are more or less set in granite and relationships with customers fragmented across departments. (For example, an importer bringing in goods from multiple regions of the world may have to work with multiple personnel at their forwarder or carrier, where the personnel is assigned duties by region.) In contrast, a smaller company is usually able to react more quickly and creatively to solve problems and aren't restrained to corporate standard operating procedures. In addition, they will often assign customer service personnel by customer rather than by region, enabling the customer to have a single point of
contact for all their shipments.
- Terri Danz
6. If you had one piece of advice for a student looking to get into this field, what would it be?
There is a future in sustainability; if your school offers a business certificate in sustainability studies, get it.
- Jason Averill
Learn from your mistakes. You will mess up, take responsibility and don't make the same mistake again. Find mentors and learn from them. Find out how the industry/positions/company has changed and what direction it's going in. If you're still in school, join CSCMP, become involved in activities, NETWORK! Use your network wisely. Don't just meet people to get a job from them, get to know them and be their friends, you never know when you might need them in the future. The broader your network is, the better off you'll be when it comes to looking for a first job, changing jobs, or keeping up with industry information.
- Joy Nakfoor
To a student who wants to work in the industry, I would advise him/her to build a basic communications skill set which involves good technical understanding, solid communications skills and analytical ability.
- Phil Harris
As I stated above: utilize your time in college to try internships and jobs in different industries and for different company sizes in order to narrow your post-college job search. Also, be sure to get involved in more activities than just school and work. Finally, be sure to hone your people and communication skills. This will help you not only at your career but in the interviewing and search processes.
- Marcello Robertson
Try to learn as much as possible about the industry and the applications that keep it running.
- Nick Tweardy
Take advantage of opportunities to do internships, even if unpaid, in the field while
attending school. While there are many excellent supply chain management programs available, and they use real-life scenarios and case studies to teach, there is no substitute for time spent in the field seeing how
things really work.
- Terri Danz
7. Based on your experience, what are the most surprising or unexpected elements about working in this industry? What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of your career?
I am shocked at the number of operations that refuse to adapt or change this late in the game. On the upside, there are those who can embrace change and really find the silver lining: the whole company benefits as the forecasting becomes more accurate.
- Jason Averill
I don't consider Supply Chain Management to be an industry. It is a functional area that has the ability to transfer to any industry. I've worked in all three areas of SCM and found that one really stood out to me. I knew within my first month that a different area wasn't for me, but I stuck the job out for 1.5 years to gain the experience and understand why I didn't like it. I was technically in Marketing for my first job, but found out later on that I was actually doing a lot of SCM work and I liked that. That happens a lot of the time. I find working in cross functional teams to be the most rewarding. I am a people person and like that I got to work with other departments. I wasn't just doing one thing all the time, there was a lot of variability in my job, which made it more exciting - even when I didn't like the job.
- Joy Nakfoor
I am surprised about how broad the industry is and how it touches every aspect of a business.
Most rewarding is my ability to work with other people and help them understand how the components of logistics can be used to improve a business’s performance and service their customers.
- Phil Harris
One of the things you realize as you move throughout your career is that, while it’s important to perform well, it’s just as important for career success to create positive relationships with those around you at work and in your community. Approach your career and your life with a “how can I help you” attitude and this will take you further than technical expertise any day.
One of the most rewarding parts of my career is the opportunity to help others. I have found that it’s important for me to be in an environment where I’m empowered to make decisions, can work independently and make a positive influence on others. This realization has helped me to target a work environment that’s a great fit and for me to continue to advance my career in the right direction.
- Marcello Robertson
What I find rewarding is coming up with solutions to solve complex supply chain problems and watching all of the elements and resources come together to make it happen.
- Nick Tweardy
The most surprising element in this industry is the same as what I consider to be the most rewarding aspect to my career - there is always something new and things are never dull. Between regulatory changes, changing market conditions and new technology, there is always something new to master in supply chain management.
- Terri Danz
Contributors
Marcello Robertson is the new marketing manager, in charge of new business development, at viastore systems, Inc. Over the past 15 years, Marcello has worked at various marketing positions, always increasing the company‘s brand exposure and ultimately generating new opportunities. Marcello‘s number 1 goal is to position viastore systems, Inc. as a global leading supplier of automated material handling solutions for distribution and manufacturing clients. He is viastore’s primary delegate for the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and also serves on the organization’s Automation Marketing Team.
Phil Harris has worked in the logistics management industry for 45 years in the Air Force and civilian companies. He is a consultant to Albany State University on logistics and supply chain management and is a board member of ASU’s Center for Advanced Logistics Management (CALM). He can be reached at 229.894.0181 or 229.430.0582.
Joy Nakfoor has worked in automotive, high-tech, and airlines industries both domestically and international and is currently pursuing her PhD in SCM at the University of Tennessee.
Jason Averill is Executive Vice President at Avercast. Avercast, located in Rexburg, Idaho, is a leading inventory forecasting and demand planning platform. The company was founded by industry leading supply chain professionals (including Jason). Over the last four years they have engaged 45 interns from Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg.
Nick Tweardy is a solution architect at MavenWire, a company serving the logistics and supply chain industry.
Terri L. Danz is director of Dakini International Logistics Inc., a consulting firm based in Seattle which focuses on assisting small to medium-sized enterprises develop and improve their supply chain management. Terri has over 20 years’ experience handling import, export and domestic logistics for companies ranging from manufacturers, wholesalers, and freight forwarders. With Dakini, Terri’s approach to assisting clients with their logistics models is holistic – striving to understand the client’s products, customer base and target market’s requirements, as well as their particular constraints and challenges, and then designing processes to best address these in a cost-effective and highly responsive manner. Terri is also a published author, with “Basics of Ocean Exporting” currently available in e-book format.
