I saw a post in a LinkedIn group recently that posed the question of why supply chain professionals were having so much difficulty marketing themselves in the job market? As someone who has been looking to hire some supply chain consultants for a few months, let me give you my perspective as to what I am looking for – perhaps it will give some new insight to those currently searching….
Unfortunately, we are finding it difficult to find the right type of person. There do seem to be several candidates out there, however we are looking for a mix of deep supply chain skills as well as technical proficiency - perhaps that is difficult? Or perhaps candidates should be marketing themselves a little better?
- I think it is important for candidates to list specific business accomplishments at each job and not just general job duties.
- I also find it helpful to have the candidates list which business problems/processes they have been working on. It is easy to say inventory reduction of X, but how did you accomplish it (VMI, supplier visibility, etc.)?
- Some SCM candidates under emphasize their technical skills as well. These skills should be brought to the forefront, because most SCM business problems require some type of technology to assist in solving the problem.
- Industry expertise is nice, but not required. We work with many different types of industries and find that 90% of supply chain business problems are consistent across industries, with minimal uniqueness per industry. However, exposure to different industries is nice to know. For consulting, exposure to different industries adds credibility when working with different customers.
- Location of candidates is also not that important, however they should be close to a major airport. A challenge is that many of the candidates I see do not want to travel. That is understandable, but if they aren’t willing to relocate or travel, it will be difficult to find a match in certain geographies.
- Some people mention they are looking for entry level jobs and those are hard to come by in the consulting world and in private industry. Customers do not want to pay top dollar for someone who doesn’t know more than they do. However there are some entry level jobs I would hire. I think the key for entry level jobs is to be very flexible. Willing to live anywhere, relocate on your own and willing to travel. We can have more junior people learn on bigger projects and then grow from there. Entry level candidates really need to demonstrate drive and ambition.
I would love to hire some high quality SCM professionals with deep skills and technical proficiency with a willingness to travel and solve lots of different business problems for lots of different companies. The key is having the candidate indicate on their resume they have all the right skills so the resume is not passed over.
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Tags: Customer service, Supply chain management, Supply chain management software
Posted in Best practices, General News, Supply chain management
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Monique,
Thank you for an interesting perspective for resume content, especially as it aligns with my thoughts on what a company would be looking for in a quality candidate. I believe the challenge that many individuals in transition face is understanding the audience they are writing for.
Most postings and comments on resume writing focus on getting it past the HR gatekeeper, who are focused on identifying the ideal candidate(s) for the position, and are reviewing several hundred resumes for a specific position. The other posting are nearly unanimous in the short amount of time a recruiter spends looking at a resume and the need to get as many “key words” or phrases/accomplishments onto the resume while still keeping the length at 2 pages or less.
Additionally, many individuals provide their accomplishments and look to the interview in order to provide more detailed information on how it was accomplished, giving them the ability to demonstrate their communication skills, and lead to further discussion during the interview.
Finally, it seems that in many instances, the job descriptions are tightly focused to meet the current needs and skill set. Requirements that specify the minimum number of years of industry experience, specific computer system or programs experience will either eliminate potentially great candidates at the gatekeeper level, or cause these individuals not to pursue the position because they lack the industry or specific technical experience, or have the wrong technical background (such as JD Edwards or Oracle instead of SAP).
Personally I believe a diverse background in different industries brings a fresh perspective to the position and different ways of addressing the problems. While I feel that it is important to show a strong technical understanding, I feel that inexperience with a specific technical requirement allows the individual to challenge the status quo and drive solutions for the company and the customer.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.