Managing your Career in SCM
The gentlemen at 3PLWire recently pointed out on October 19 a brief summary of guidelines when mapping out your supply chain career and determining the right direction. These recommendations come from an article in Supply Chain Digest. I feel these are helpful and ring true from my own experience so far--be sure to read 3PLWire's comments as well.
The Guidelines:
- Map out your career development and fill in the gaps: Companies today are looking for a broad set of skills, covering the whole supply chain. Proactively seek experience across many functions (logistics, sourcing, planning, manufacturing, global, etc.).
- Work for a company that gets it and invests in it: Naturally, other companies want to recruit from companies perceived as supply chain leaders. As talented as you may be, if you are working for a company that has a mediocre supply chain reputation, it won’t help your cause later.
- Work outside SCM (e.g., IT/Finance): Such as broad set of skills are now required to manage a supply chain, companies look favorably on those that have experience in related areas. Rollin Ford, formerly Wal-Mart’s head of supply chain, recently took the CIO role in the retail giant, for example.
- Change industries: While some companies still want deep experience in a specific industry (e.g. retail), the trend is increasingly for companies to value a broad range of industry experience. As a recent example, SCDigest notes Reuben Slone, who led the supply chain transformation efforts at consumer durables manufacturer Whirlpool, more recently took the top supply chain spot at retailer Office Max.
- Get international experience and live abroad: It goes without saying that companies are looking today for execs with skills in the global supply chain, but MacEachern said there’s often an even greater presence for someone who has actually lived overseas for some time. “If you have lived in China, that may be considered more favorably even if you have visited there 50 times,” he said.
- Seek out board experience: Companies today are increasingly looking to add outside supply chain executives to their boards. If you get that opportunity, grab it – thinking and working at a board level will be considered highly by companies looking to fill a Chief Supply Chain Officer position.
- Build your network: Potential employers and recruiters need to be able to find you – the breadth of your network greatly increases the odds.
- Find a mentor: Identify an exec inside or outside your company who can help show you the way.
Also, below I am re-posting an article that discusses just what makes someone a "supply chain professional." You will find some of the career recommendations in the article are quite similar to the ones above:
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