Logistics/Supply Chain jobs (credit, applying, owner, career)

[BackinHenderson]

I currently work as a retail manager but I have always been interested in pursuing a career in supply chain management. I have found it to be extremely difficult to enter into however. My store is set to be closed and I'm not sure I want to move again and have found several logistic position openings in the healthcare field where I'm at. As most jobs in logistics that I see, a CPM is required. The last time I checked the CPM was no longer a certification you can get and has now been replaced by a new certification. If you already have a CPM you can continue to renew it.

I have experience negotiating with vendors and reviewing price points as a business owner. In my current position I do reconcile shipments, complete weekly cycle counts, and complete monthly bulk counts. I also review a spread sheet that shows everything that has been sold in the past 13 weeks and compares it to what was sold last year. I use this as a tool to persuade merchandisers to send new product to the store or send larger refills of products.

I also have served as a Quartermaster Officer in the US Army Reserves. I'm a bit hesitant to list military qualifications on my resume or try and translate it to civilian terms. Essentially it is the supply chain management branch of the United States Army that covers general distribution, food service, mortuary affairs, petroleum distribution, fuel quality control, and aerial delivery. My experience has been in petroleum distribution and quality control. As an officer though my role has been that of supervision. A technical expert I am most definitely not.

I would like some advice from those who work in logistics, or those who hire for logistics,as to what types of jobs I should be looking into. Do those who hire for logistics have any idea what a Quartermaster Officer is or does?

[PacificFlights]

The CPSM is the replacement for CPM. If you acheive the CPSM it covers all the criteria (plus some) of the old CPM.

DO NOT omiy your military service, especially if relevant to position your applying for. I think it is a great dis service of the military to give those in the 92 field the impression that there are no similar civilian jobs. Thats not true at all. There are actually many similar jobs where your military experience will be desirable in the logistics and supply management. I think why they keep saying its not similar is because if a commission officer, many duties were less in the actual supply/logistics/operational areas and more tleaning towards the admin/personnel/administartive areas which in the civilian world is the domain of other departments. So what you bring in the way of positive skills in some areas, you may lack the direct hands on technical expereice of the civilian world in similar civilian management positions. BUT, to not list the militray experience because of the unneeded/non applicable specialized military duties is to ignore that there are direct and applicable TRANSFERABLE skills to the civilian world.

What you have to do is to sit down and list out the direct applicable duties you performed and translate them to civilian duties (if you need help feel free to DM me with any points you get stuck on). You have to be thinking civilian duties and what militray duties were the same or based on the same principals. You don;t need to try and translate every military duty and aspect into some civilian since some have no simiar duty, so concentrate on those that are the same.

Now, you are seeking to get into this area at a very good time. I'm sure you probably heard that the military is getting out of the heavy and stratigic airlift business. The C-5's are being phased out and will never be replaced. The C-141's are history, the C-17 are a boondogle failure of airlift capabilities and although they are being maintained and delivers, the DOD would rather they just rust away and never be used except for their true intended purpose of forward cargo deployment in an operation combat zone. That means that by 2018 100% of all US military heavylift and stratigic cargo shipments will be in the hands of the private sector. Even sea shipments are being moved over to more and more civilian ocean shipping companies.

So it doen;t matter what you do right now, just get your foot in the door. The company I work for has increased military contracts 30% over last year. We are negotiating for a couple of air frieghter to support those contracts. WE have started the expansion of our east coat office that will be handling these contracts and that means hiring about 10 people who have direct experince in dealing with DOD and with full knowldge of the various branches operations or should I say we will be hiring Quartermasters from the military to handle the work.

Once you figure out the overall job picture and where you want to apply, do not hesitate to ask for help in dealing with how to address your military expeience. I have helped a number of veterans translate their military education and experiences to the civilian world.

[annerk]

I LOVE to hire former military, but they do need to translate their military skills (jargon) into the civilian marketplace on their resume or in the cover letter. If they expect me to do it for them, it's not going to happen.

[Dd714]

My field is connected to logistics somewhat. Honestly I have never heard of the CPSM, and that's saying something, although I am sure it is worthwhile. You want APICS accredidation - CPIM although that is somewhat related to production. But APICS is a respected organization.

Most of the logistics professionals I deal with have a military background, so it's a great background to have. The Military is so logistics and process focused that it's just a great fit.

The industry is going into 3rd party support now - 3PL providers. UPS, FEDEX, EXCEL all are in the warehouse running business, manageing warehouses and transportation for all the fortune 500 companies. They are also becoming more and more high tech rather than just "moving boxes". So current training on industry standards and methodology is very important.

[BackinHenderson]

Thanks for the responses. I don't list my military experience on my resume. I do however, mention it in the cover letter. I try to keep it brief and avoid using any terms that would not translate. As I mentioned before that as an officer I am far from a technical expert. I also feel that my experience as an officer may intimidate some hiring managers as a lot of the experience I have had, most in the private sector, would not see until the executive level. I know I inadvertenly intimidated my last regional manager I had. I don't want to be applying for a purchasing clerk position just trying to get in on the ground floor and have the individual doing the hiring wondering how on earth are they going to be able to manage someone that has that kind of experience. I think six or seven years ago I probably could have come in much higher on the food chain but now with the way things are as far as the economy goes I have to come in on the ground floor, showcase my skillsets, and then climb with that company or get snagged up by a competitor after gaining experience. The way to do that I feel is by omitting some of my military experience but certainly not all.

I should be able to get my CSM now I believe. The last time I checked was over a year ago and I needed to come up with one more year of experience to be able to check the required the experience block to take the certification test. I'm wondering how long it will take for that certification to catch on because I still see everyone wanting a CPM. I feel like with my experience I have now I should at the very least be able to get hired on as a purchasing assistant or purchasing agent.

[PacificFlights]

Originally Posted by BackinHenderson

I also feel that my experience as an officer may intimidate some hiring managers as a lot of the experience I have had, most in the private sector, would not see until the executive level.

With all due respect, get off that high horse!

You are applying for a job and you have a certain amount of education and skills that hapen to be in the militray. Why in gods name are you overthinking the reasons why you are going to be rejected? You and only you have created in your own mind this 'conspiracy". Your education and experience are your education and experience. if you feel that there are aspects of the eduction that may scream "Overqualified" take it down a notch. If some aspects of your expereince is overpowering, take it diown a notch as needed, but to assume that your "Officer" role is intimidating to civilians, get over that thinking ASAP because its bull. Anyway you said it yourself that the majority of your executive management expeience was in the private sector so why are you focusing on your militray service so much in a negative light?

I don't mean to get on you but this is such a common issue I see with former militray that it befuddles me why? I have seen people with 4 years of direct militray experience in a positiont hat relates 100% to a civilian position they are applying ofr, and they have 8 years of unrelated o semi-related civilian expereince. Yet they are so darn concern that putting the militray duties will somehow esculate them from a regular applicant to the lord almighty. This is a dangerious way to be thinking when reentering the civilian job market because your downplaying the improtant skills out of an irrational fear that it may cause wobbly knees byt he civilians. As you also said, half the time they may have no idea what you did and what it means so more often, you get less credit not more....

Don;t let the propaganda of militray service being the creator of some magic super worker scare you from listing it when it is a defining position in your career.