Logistics Industry Faces Big Employee Recruitment Challenge

A new MHI report says the logistics business will be looking to fill about 1.4 million jobs, or roughly 270,000 per year, by 2018.

Fortune
The logistics industry faces a big challenge recruiting the 1.4 million supply chain workers it will need by 2018, according to an article in Fortune.
The logistics industry faces a big challenge recruiting the 1.4 million supply chain workers it will need by 2018, according to an article in Fortune.

The logistics industry faces a big challenge recruiting the 1.4 million supply chain workers it will need by 2018, according to an article in Fortune.

George Prest, CEO of logistics trade group Material Handling Industry (MHI), says the field gets overlooked by new grads in particular, who think of supply-chain work — if they think of it at all — as “a guy driving a forklift in a dusty old factory.”

That outdated image is a huge hurdle for an industry that badly needs new talent in high-tech, analytics, robotics, and engineering. Career changers, take note: Seasoned managers, marketers, data analysts, and human resources executives are also in demand. “There are currently six to eight management jobs available for each applicant we get, and the median salary is about $80,000,” noted Prest — and that’s even before the wave of boomer retirements the MHI projects over the next few years. In total, says a new MHI report, the logistics business will be looking to fill about 1.4 million jobs, or roughly 270,000 per year, by 2018.

To read more, click here.

Latest