It’s no secret that the job market is tough. But it’s improving all the time — with the vast majority of the latest job creation and unemployment figures looking encouraging — and often getting a job is just about knowing where to look. If you’re not sure which careers offer the most opportunity, one area you should definitely start with is logistics.
What Logistics Workers Actually Do
Logistics workers, on a very basic level, are responsible for getting things from point A (normally a creation or distribution point) to point B (the place where the customer wants it to end up). But these days, logistics is generally seen as a field much broader than physical transportation. You may even see the term used interchangeably with “supply chain management,” which deals with everything involving supplying customers with the products that they want.
Why You Should Consider Logistics
There are numerous reasons why you should consider a career in logistics. Here are just five:
- The field is growing: Logistics is becoming more and more relevant as outsourcing has become a dominant business model; all those disparate parts need to be brought together at some point.
- There are opportunities at many educational levels: Not all logistics positions require advanced degrees. That makes it a good option if you’d like to advance your education while working, or if you’re happy with a job that will give you a solid paycheck without a bunch of additional schooling.
- It’s easy to find advancement opportunities: In some fields, it’s tough to find advancement opportunities without jumping into another vertical. But that’s generally not the case with logistics, meaning it’s easier to move up if you excel.
- It allows for a broad focus: In most businesses, you’ll need to specialize in one thing or another, such as accounting or marketing. Things tend to be much more fluid in logistics, with companies appreciating broad expertise as long as you can apply it to an equally broad set of situations.
- You can travel: If you’ve always wanted a job that would allow you to travel (maybe even abroad), you should know that logistics is often a transnational field and there are many travel opportunities. Those will be increased if you are fluent in multiple languages.
Working With a Logistics Recruiter
If all of that sounds so good you want to get started looking at logistics jobs, you should know a little more about actually finding them. There are specialized logistics recruiters that will be very helpful to you in this venture (keep in mind that such firms may also brand themselves as supply chain recruiters, but offer essentially the same opportunities). If you’re coming from a background in the military, which has huge numbers of people employed in logistics operations, you’ll probably benefit from working with military transition recruiters; you may have enough logistics experience from the military to move into a higher position, but it can be tough to articulate your experience to civilian employers without help. And finally, if you’re looking to be hired into a high-level position, you’ll want to work with some executive search services.
Have you ever worked with logistics recruiters? Share your experiences in the comments.
