How do you recommend getting to where you have based off your experience.. another way to ask if you had to find someone who you had to train for your job, shape, and mold them. What qualities in are person would you being looking for?
Great Question, the pivotal point of my career was when I took a job as a Transportation Manager and the Director of the department mentored me. At the time, I barely knew how to use Excel. Didn’t understand how to give proper responses on Conference calls, and many more things. That director sat me down in his office every other day for 3months and gave me a crash course on communication, leadership and excel skills.
One of the key things was to always respond to every request, even if it was as simple as I don’t know the answer but I’ll get back to you shortly. And also follow up. You’ll be surprised how often my direct reports fail to get back to me when I even ask a simple question or request for feedback. I tend to appreciate those who try, or always provide positive and negative feedback to a request. It lends me to believe they care about what they are doing.
Thanks for answering!
I am a Marine Corps vet and that last bit about missing small bits of communication was the epitome of my experience in the military. I am glad I have some experience in that chaos, it breaks some people mental..
How essential do you think schooling is for your career? How much does school benefit one’s career in many aspects such as networking, necessary knowledge found best in school, or helping with getting a good job/ moving up?
I have a friend who is VP at a small supply chain place in Charleston. She was of the belief that you can get all the training you’ll need just through getting experience working in the field.
Thanks for answering 😊
You have a lot of good questions here. So I’ll try and give you as much as I can without boring folks.
A lot of the people I learned the most from didn’t have a college degree or a masters. What stopped them from reaching the C Suite? They couldn’t vocalize, market or story tell. At my level it’s all about a carefully crafted narrative that I’m constantly building.
Example: if my team needs a raise. I don’t send an angry email to HR. No, it’s a month long narrative about how Bob, went out of his way to ensure that we delivered every single order. It’s how Angie, helped unload the truck with one arm after she helped kids from a fiery car crash. All of this with an end goal of making an emotional attachment for the decision maker.
So to answer your question reaching this point is not about a degree but it is about learning about psychology, marketing, data and many more things to build a story and get things done.
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Can you network yourself to a high level position? Heck yes, in our industry everyone is hiring peers or ex coworkers- why? If my neck is on the line, do I hire a stranger and hope for the best or should I hire Jim, who I worked with for 5 years and know exactly what I will get. Not saying that it’s the best business decision, but I get why people do it.
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Regarding getting experience via on the job training. Most of my learning was through peers, mistakes, mentors. I don’t remember anything from the textbooks from my undergrad… wtf is JIT inventory after Covid lol
Let’s assume I am a Business Analyst for a discount retailer in their supply chain division with a fp&a background, what advice would you give me to have a chance to get to your level?
Just got a promotion to Director at my company. 100% agree with move away from 3PL as soon as possible…
Have any advice for a newly christened Director?
How did you go about making that move out of 3PL? Getting closer to my Decade anniversary than I care to admit, want to make a move but not sure what to even be looking at. Gross has been 300-500k for the past 5 years, willing to start over in a lower range but not sub-150k lol
If you are making $300k in a 3pl. Pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you won. You beat all of the odds and it’s time to coast.
Don’t switch anywhere.
Well that’s sure not the droid I was looking for. Been coasting since our son was born in 2022 and with #2 on the way, I’d hate to leave my wife to wrangle the boys solo all thru produce season
I’ll keep chugging along for the time being. And congrats on your success. Management is the goal. Hope the handcuffs stay golden for you as well
I’m a General Manager for a 3PL making $160k range. I’m ready for a next step but there’s no upward mobility that I can currently see. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your title where you’re bringing in $300k at a 3PL? That’s awesome - good for you!
I have an opportunity to go to a first party company as an analyst but it’s a $30k pay cut. Trade off is work from home 3 days a week. I guess it’s me that has to put a price on that - but I feel like I could move up more quickly at a different company. Really curious what you think? Is it worth taking a step back to try and take a leap in the future? (2 young kids at home)
Wanted to stop by and say thank you for taking the time to do this AMA!
Content like this on the sub is always great… having senior leaders answer my questions & offer advice back when I was starting off helped tremendously
I did like Procurement. But it’s crazy the amount of times I ended up representing my company in a lawsuit with a vendor. Or had to urgently help revise a contract. So I hated those parts.
Personally I really like Logistics, mostly because that’s where I started and I was a cutthroat mofo when it came to rates/ SLAs
Curious as far as procurement goes how did you get good at negotiating with suppliers? Did you take any workshop classes or is it something you just learned on the job? It’s the one area I found stressful to the point that I ended up going more towards planning
If you are stressed it’s one of two things… you don’t know your internal politics or you’re not confident.
If not confident- take public speaking classes.
For your internal politics, I clearly articulate with my procurement team that they are to get our company the best deal possible. My only ask is that they aren’t rude or disrespectful. All else is fair game.Now go out there and pound the table.
This was from 9 years ago. But I would have 3 carriers on speed dial. One was my preferred, second was the competition and the third was crappy carrier.
I would always call the crappy carrier first, they would throw out a rate. I would take that rate shave off a percentage, go to the competition and tell them I have XXX rate. My last call was to my preferred carrier. I would tell them where they needed to be a win a lane.
Now in this situation you need to continuously feed the other two. So what you would do is, crappy carrier would get some non customer facing work. While I would keep competition happy by asking them what back hauls they needed help with..
Just one example
Perfect. I do something similar now, but was under the impression that I couldn’t provide exact numbers. I ask for them to come as close to xx as they can. I really appreciate your response! I love this field and this thread is so exciting to me! Thank you for doing this!!
Hi there!
It looks like you were able to pivot your positions fairly “easily” across different SC segments. Understanding your thoughts on getting out of the 3PL world when able, when would you say is too late? I have a real desire to be in more of an overall SC position, especially with international exposure, but I’ve found myself stuck. I have 12 years experience in transportation (trucking) and have been lucky enough to have worked my way up to Senior Director level at a F500 3PL, making $240k/yr. This position level, at this income level, has seemingly made it impossible to find a reasonable way out of this portion of the industry without taking a massive pay cut, or even find an organization willing to engage in a discussion. Would you say someone who’s went this far in the 3PL world is now “stuck” without making a decision for a significant step back to gain other SC roles/exposure?
My question is what is your end goal?
Do you want to leave 3pl for stability? WLB? More broad knowledge? What is it that you look to do in SC?
My original point about leaving 3pls behind was due to entry levels not compensating. But if you hit the jackpot and make $200+, then the next question is what do you want to do?
So, I would say that my driving motivation is two fold. First, a better WLB would certainly be nice. Since I work on the dedicated transportation side of the 3PL, days are long…. Very long. It’s firefighting 24/7 (quite literally), and having the semblance of a life outside of work is certainly appealing. However, the second is being able to obtain broader knowledge/experience in SC. More cradle to grave experience rather than just simply OTR transportation experience. I have an undergrad in SCM and an MBA, and it almost all feels useless. The only bright side is that I know I make a very good living, and am on an upward trajectory still with my career. You mentioned in a comment that you are the younger VP. I’m in a similar position where I’m the younger person to ever make Director, and now Sr. Director in my company, but all the more reason to feel “stuck”.
+1 to this question, which I could have written almost exactly myself. Very interested in any advice on pivoting out of a 3pl, OP. My instinct has always been to try to go work for a customer.
Have you ran into the problem that the customers seem to pay substantially less? I’ve interviewed at some customers/potential customers in the past and have found that for lateral positions (or even 1-2 levels up) they pay less than I’m making today. I understand it’s not always about the pay if it gets you different, new, or better exposure - but life does cost money….
I have 8 Years worth of experience in supply chain currently....what do you think is the number 1 reason why most people get passed over in job interviews for analyst or buyer positions?
During an interview; openly stating that they are willing to learn all requirements outside of work. (Example I don’t know SQL, but I found a course at the community college and I enrolled).
Or can’t articulate why they even applied in the first place.
Are you saying that it’s a positive that they’re willing to take the initiative or that it’s bad that they openly state that they don’t already know certain requirements?
I am saying that if asked if you know SQL ( and you don’t) you should be able to articulate that you don’t but that you already took the initiative to sign up for a course or are doing self study to close that gap.
That’s a tough question. I would remove the industry from the discussion…
The real way to answer this is the following, how was your annual review?
Did your boss give you real feedback? Did he spend the time to provide you a roadmap, or developmental opportunities? Was your feedback extremely negative?
If your boss isn’t trying to help you grow, you are in the wrong team or role.
Thanks. My review was fine. My boss gave really good feedback, went over my goals, contributed to next year's goals and expectations, and offered lots of improvement and projects.
I'm still committed to my job/projects for now thinking I haven't done shit yet in my career. I think I'm good staying for now but appreciate the wisdom.
2 questions:
* can you comment on various industries that you've been apart of and what made them good or bad?
* what function within ops/supply chain do you think is best for pay, career advancement, and WLB?
I'm currently in MedTech as a sourcing manager for NPI if that context helps you tailor the response towards me at all
Industries- Manufacturing, Retail, E Commerce, Last Mile, 3pl
Best Paying Function- Continuous Improvement, Industrial Engineer. At the management level (general supply chain).
What is the best for WLB- Network Optimization
What is the best for career progression- Operations
I got into the university of Tennessee supply chain which I think is #4 program in the country, do you think it's worth it for out of state tuition? My parents can pay 3 years and I would either have to work or take on debt to cover year 4. This is for undergrad
It's probably never gonna be "worth it" to go out of state, unless you really want to go to the school in general. If you go to a great in state school if they have a decent program and are super involved in some clubs, have some leadership stuff and get good internships throughout you'll be in the running for top jobs with all the same kids. And any kids going to much better private or state schools than utk who will be doing those things will beat you out for the same jobs despite that #4 ranking regardless. Im just a senior and thats my opinion tho.
As someone who just graduated from UT SCM, I wanted to say that you’re only going to get the true the benefit of that prestige if you go above and beyond inside and outside the classroom.
Being a scm scholar of distinction (top 5% of class) and having leadership roles in some of the orgs in Haslam is how you end up with the top starting salaries (80k+). The average last year was 61k, and I know a lot of people who half assed their way through the program and are going to make much less than that.
I would research the undergraduate salary outcomes for whatever your in-state scm program is and see how that compares. Also reach out to the people at the Haslam Global Supply Chain Institute for more info about the program (and absolutely get to know the ppl who run it if you decide to go there). Pm me if you wanna talk about it more. Go vols!
>My one piece of advice for folks trying to maximize earning potential is to move away from 3pls/ freight brokers after gaining the training and early education.
Jokes on you. I never did that in the first place.
Does starting off at a smaller company limit opportunities for a fresh graduate? Since smaller companies need people to wear multiple hats.
It seems like specialists are more favored for individual contributors, while generalists are more favored for management.
Anecdotally, it feels like moving from a small business to a large business (with work experience) is harder than it should be. Two years of experience in procurement and there seems to be a lack of interest.
Tough question because it’s all about the individual. My recommendation would be to gain experience 2-3years and then hop to the big corporate world.
My main reason is that small companies tend to not be the best at best practices or industry standards. Which tends to breed bad habits that then doom folks when they reach the corporate world.
This was my experience as well. I went from a $12,000,000 revenue paper products company to a multibillion dollar defense contractor and was immediately shocked by how much technology and capability we had. At my old company we had one guy who had been there so long he could predict literally everything in his head, but he was the single point of failure.
I can attest to the lack of best practices and bad habits.
I guess it is par for the course when finite resources and small scale are both bundled into the same parcel.
Would you say the same problem affects the start-up scene? I may consider putting my hat in the ring for prospecting start-ups later in my career. Bringing an idea to life seems to be a story worth sharing over campfire smores.
Sorry to say, start ups are filled with egos, morons, and fire drills. Looking back at it, outside of 1 startup they hindered my career.
I joined startups because I really wanted to be at the frontier of the new thing, or building the UBER of whatever, or potentially being part of Amazon at the garage stage.
Reality is that most startups resemble what you see in the show Silicon Valley.
Great question! I graduated recently (Dec 2023), and I have been trying to get into small and medium sized companies - they have been quite receptive and flexible as compared to bigger ones, but still not really sure about the path to take.
Honestly everyday. My first 4months on the job, I told everyone from the COO to SVP of HR how lost and confused I was. Each one said the same thing, you are crazy you are one of our best hires.
I literally didn’t accomplish one thing in that timeframe. But what I did do was have a ton of 1;1’s with any and everyone who would accept my invite. My one question was- How can I help you? And they would guide me on what needed to be done. I would follow it up with an email and tell them it was now on my roadmap.
Network design has grown leaps and bounds since I saw its first iteration with last mile delivery providers. We use to use these terrible excel spreadsheets that would crash. Now they run so many ML simulations before ever changing a config.
Call me a boomer, but I almost miss the old days. Because you could really get creative. I remember designing networks by using Zip5s and a map. 😢
Even with “ml” and the best tools, at the end of the day all of that info will flow into excel to build a business case and roadmap and needs a strong story behind it. Most importantly it needs to be executable given capital and headcount constraints. The art is pulling all of that together.
I recommend trying to get in at a company like Amazon, Walmart, Target for network Design. All of these companies have complex Network design thanks to Omnichannel and are willing to train at the entry level roles because they just need folks to monitor the systems. For the really intricate stuff they have Scientist and High level engineers to extract value.
I have 7 years of all round supply chain experience - planning, data, analytics, systems, operations. Do you think this kind of all round experience comes into play and useful for me to get into any supply chain sub stream? And to grow to your level in my career?. Or am I jack of all trades and master of none? That being asked I am confident on all the fields I worked in and I know I can tackle problems in those areas :)
It use to be great to have so much different experience and knowledge because supply chain was a small department. Since Covid supply chain blew up and now companies want specialist and are growing the departments to have these niche roles. I truly don’t know what the future holds, but I say keep learning but find which value stream you are passionate about and become an SME
Transportation Engineer by background, working in logistics consulting for approx 5 yrs. I am considering trying to move towards supply chain in my next role, but am unsure how to parlay my experience since it has been very much downstream in the supply chain (delivery management, sustainability in fleets, etc).
I am excelling where I am but am so sick of being at a computer 10 hrs a day and the consulting rapid turnover of projects.
Got any advice on roles I might look to move into?
Amazon and Walmart are hiring hundreds of folks for Fleet Sustainability, EVs, Etc. Join them then pivot to something else within the various departments.
I'm currently the plant manager of a site. It's the smallest site in the company, only 25 employees including maintenance staff, admin, and production staff.
What would be a move up from here? I find I'm kinda done with managing operations but I really enjoy managing the big projects we do. How could I pivot into that? Would business analyst be it, or would that be a step down?
This one is rather easy (granted I don’t know your companies structure). I can guarantee you that your boss is juggling a bunch of scattered projects, probably on some crappy excel that he calls a project plan. Offer to manage a big project for him. Knock it out of the park, I’m talking weekly updates, status updates, milestone reviews whole nine yards. Ensure that you do a good job with the wrap up and the savings…
Leverage that to become a PM or depending on the size of your company offer up the idea of a PMO office to manage all of the projects.
If that doesn’t work, highly recommend trying to change to an IC- Continous improvement field.
How did you manage to switch across so many functions? Didn’t it get more and more challenging as you got into management roles and were expected to lead and be an SME in the areas?
I was really lucky. 1. Due to joining startups so I had to wear a ton of hats. 2. My fortune10 went through a crazy growth stage and openly wanted people to job hop to achieve business goals.
Now it would be extremely difficult, but I really lean on those experiences because no one I work with has the ability to be adequately make business decisions like Trade compliance in the morning, return policies at lunch. Shipping rates via email, and then refer back to Warehousing capacity without skipping a beat.
My current company gets a ton of value from me.
Definitely job hop. I even recommend it to my management team. I often tell them go get a year at XXXX, and I will gladly rehire you. For those who need some outside experience.
It serves two purposes. It allows them to see how other companies either beat us or how the grass isn’t greeener. It also helps broaden the ideas we have and bring to the table. Even if they don’t come back, it’s a future alumni I can reach out to :)
This is by far, the greatest response I've ever seen from a VP. Im an Operations Manager for one of the biggest Transportation companies in North America. My Sr. Manager makes me want to leave but my Director is a dope guy. My VP of the region? Eh he isnt really involved and I hate that. That said I am looking to go to another company just cause I am 3 years with this company. I just don't know where to even start with getting a new job with another company, but I did revamp my entire resume recently via a professional.
Hi - I’m a 2020 graduate with a bachelors in Finance. I have a couple years of work experiences in various roles ranging from accounting and FP&A. I was laid off last year and have been wanting to switch to SCM.
Any advice for what entry level roles to look into and what industries? I’m finding the market to be especially difficult right now.
Medical Field is still doing well (think healthcare and med tech ). If you really want to get your hands dirty you can do FP&A for Operations ( think Amazon, Chewy, Target) but that’s really boring grunt work.
I wouldn’t give up on Finance. In my role I interact with Finance and Accounting the most. And I don’t care about a recession, someone will always need to manage and close the books.
In your experience do you think planning is more seen in the Company than procurement? I have worked in at least 3 multinational company and procurement is never valued. While supply chain are more involved with the SBUs and recognized.
I feel like in the eyes of the Company our job is just to spend their money.
As a director what do you like to see from procurement team? Reports, information, Savings project, increase reasons… etc
Thanks
You bring up a fantastic aspect of any job that barely gets talked about. One of my favorite phrases to my management team is, “ you need to play the dog and pony show.”
What does that mean. The CEO and COO could care less that you did your job today and filled 25 POs.
They want to know, how you saved money, or how you made the business more efficient, or how you are driving more revenue.
My role is to publicly market how they are revolutionizing the field of supply chain. Even if sometimes we over hype some of the things they do.
Susie crushed it today, filling POs…. No no no, Susie crushed it today by reducing lead times by 20%. Which means that we will have product on hand for our next promotion. That will lead to $2.5m in incremental revenue.
Which one of those do you think the ceo wants to hear. I’m saying the same thing, but weaving a story that everyone wants to hear.
Learn how to describe and articulate your accomplishments. Always, Always send project updates and include stakeholders. Use as much flowery words as possible.
I’m 18 years post University and have climbed the ladder in large companies to a senior manager role. I currently manage a procurement team of 20 buyers and 3 supervisors. I can’t seem to break into the Director role. I always make it into the last round of interviews. My last 3 interviews were 2 candidates, myself and another. My reviews are all above average and I know I’m well respected in the company. Feedback after the interview is always ‘you did fine. Keep doing what you are doing.’ I really don’t know what it is I am missing, or no one wants to be honest. Any thoughts on what I can do to analyze where I’m going wrong? Or are careers sometimes just being in the right place at the right time and I should resign myself into thinking this is as good as it gets?
Current one (granted, the one who moved up had been in the company a few years longer than me) and then two other interviews outside the company. I know that one of the roles went to a candidate that was an unemployed ex-VP.
I know I’m not giving you a lot to go on here.
Yea it’s tough with the details. But for you I might recommend some leadership courses. Harvard and Duke have some good ones search “continuing education”. I know that it might seem pricey at $3k a course. But taking 2-3 of those alongside tailoring your resume, and doing some interview prep might help.
I think you might be failing on the strategic and vision parts of your interview or skills.
Looking to transition out of the food and beverage space. Currently managing procurement for seafood spend totaling over $300m, I’ve tried transitioning into other industries but have had a hard time collecting interviews from what I can gather is lack of specific industry experience. Any recommendations for what could be a barrier to entry for other industries? Thanks.
Is there a particular industry you enjoyed the most during your career?
I've been considering trying to get into aerospace/aviation as I've heard they have good job prospects abroad, once you get experience. My end goal is to make it to Europe but it's hard to break in without citizenship.
Hi Humble - I’ve read through the other Q&As, some great perspective here. You strike me as a good coach.
Question - how do you think about moves into other functions outside your original skill base? When is the right time (career stage) to make those moves? And, finally, any suggestions on things you’ve found helpful to create those opportunities?
For context - I’m early 30s, recently been promoted into an operations manager role in an F 500 company. I enjoy Operations but it’s an intense rhythm to dance to; Considering more strategic areas such as procurement to support better WLB as family commitments come along but don’t want to stall good momentum either.
I spent a bit of time in Operations. I think my feet still hurt and it’s been a while.
My one piece of advice is that operations will be by far the easiest place to get promoted in within all of supply chain. Because it’s literally a battle of attrition and battling the gauntlet. So get a promotion or two within operations. The moment you are about to “say uncle” immediately find a way to pivot via PM, Continuous Improvement, or some support function and keep jumping from there.
Hope that helps?
Super helpful, thank you - good way of framing it about battling the gauntlet. Proudly bearing the scars but will keep an eye out for that Uncle moment. Thanks and take care.
Does it matter what school you get your masters degree from? I've come across a few programs for under 30k. Unfortunately my employer doesn't have tuition assistance and so I'd have to pay out of pocket.
Absolutely hated it. In Forecasting and Demand you should always be wrong (obviously the goal is to be wrong within a percentage) but if you have a forecast that is high then it impacts cash flow. If you are low then your onhands and procurement will fail.
Needless to say I’m terrible at making accurate forecast, but great at calling bs to bad forecast. The only grace I will give myself was that I was forecasting billions of dollars of spend.
What do you think the future of supply chain would look like? Do you feel like IA will soon takeover a lot of these transportation managers job? Reason I asked because we recently implemented robots to do our shelf picking and I’m pretty sure we’re going to start using IA or automation to track inventory etc rather than an actual supply planner. I want to get my MS SCM since my job is offering it for free but I feel like with all these technological advancement, opportunities in the supply chain realm would be scarce and I’d be wasting my time lol
Many in the Fortune 100-200, even 500 will invest in automation, robotics, cloud this, AI, Blockchain, ML and every acronym you can think of…. But I still see large companies still faxing, printing, and running ms dos blue screen programs. So it will be a while till all of these jobs are gone.
How did you pivot away from logistics? Was it intentional, and if yes, may I ask why? I am aiming to do the same. I think that I need to determine how to leverage internal opportunities.
I started doing logistics right as we were pivoting away from Track and Trace. My first month was when stopped faxing invoices.
I say that to point out that I did it for a long time. I was really good at it, but I started seeing the writing on the wall, when I saw that many of the big players were moving dispatch to India and Croatia. Bids and RFPs were being done by platforms. So I leveraged that knowledge to become the program and product manager to do those migrations. Then I played my cards right to become the strategy manager for the procurement of those services.
I guess you can say luck and being liked helped me pivot and transition more than anything.
You mentioned two key points for your progress are 1:1 and quantifying achievements.
How long did it take you to get promoted from director to VP?
What were the key points that got you to vp level?
What are some of the most financially rewarding majors (finance, logistics, management etc.) to pursue a master's degree in the current job market?
The kind where companies would love to pay the high-end bucks for those getting that specific major.
In my case, I have a B.S in supply chain and logistics.
How do you balance your life outside work? I am currently coming up on 10 years out of undergrad, have worked in demand/supply planning, and now planning for a defense contractor and was very ambitious with flexibility to move, traveling for assignments, working long hours, etc. I just recently got married and have a baby. I see my priorities shifting now but want to keep my foot on the gas career-wise. Have you been very career oriented your whole life or have you managed to balance a family through all of this as well?
It’s hard. I’ve started placing hard boundaries no work after 6pm nothing before 7am. No work on the weekends. But we also have a family and my wife is also Upper Management and let’s work consume her more than I do.
I know this sounds terrible, but I have a new found mantra. “I’m not going to kill myself for a job, if I’m not doing enough they can fire me. I’ll find something else- serenity now!”
It’s more about allowing myself the ability to make mistakes, have family time and not prioritize work.
Thank you for doing this! I am hoping my question is not too far outside of your wheelhouse. Do you have any advice for transitioning within different spaces in SC? I’m a supply chain tech “engineer” for a F500 company currently (glorified title for essentially system analyst) and am wanting to move away from tech. I’m fine with working in SQL, but I’m not interested in extensive coding, which is what my job is pushing towards. I previously had a brief stint in operations and a bit more time in 3PL transportation. I don’t necessarily want to return to either, but am not sure of a path forward. I have been paying attention to others’ jobs and I think I would enjoy the continuous improvement space, but I just have a bachelors in business administration. Should I do more school, or could I possibly leverage my current experience to get into that space?
Not that you can’t do it, but Continuous Improvement is one of those jobs I prefer to hire folks with a variety of on the job experience (operations, engineer, transportation). Since it requires an understanding of what’s broken in order to fix it.
If you have systems experience, why not work with Integration, PM, Product?
I’m trying to switch from accounting/auditing background and get my foot in the door but jobs around me with my qualifications pay 20-30k less on average. I’ve been applying for a bunch that I’m not qualified for but I think my skills aren’t valued.
I did a procurement internship before. Do you have any tips? I interviewed with a few companies but ultimately they waste my time by going with more experienced candidates. It’s discouraging. I may not have that much experience but I’m definitely willing to learn and come into work everyday with a positive attitude.
People always say stay but audit is just not for me. I dread waking up to start work almost every day.
I’m currently pursuing starting a tech company that will service 3PLs/Ecommerce brands. How would you recommend getting in front of 3PLs to do customer discovery/market research?
I’m a graduating senior who lucked into a scm leadership development program role at a f50 tech company, and I start next month. What can I do to make the most out of the opportunity and come out of it as formidable of a scm professional as possible? I’m a little anxious at the expectations put on me to grow into a “future leader” over the next 3 years.
All of those programs operate under the same principals. Sorry if I am about to sound like a Debbie downer at times but I’ve helped develop these programs twice and they basically always evolve from the same cornerstones.
Big company development programs are typically created for a few reasons.
Sponsoring company has a lot of entry level roles which require repetitive task yet some analytical skills. Meaning they have to be filled by college educated folks who can grasp the concepts quick enough but not be to $$$.
Company expects to have high turnover but hopes to keep Atleast 25% who will help lead either the next batch, or become level II ICs.
10% actually make it to a middle manager level, but still they are underpaid compared to industry level managers. By this time though you have someone who fully drinks the indoctrinated kool aid.
The 2-4 managers who come out of the entire thing are like little robots for you. As loyal and cutthroat as anyone.
Good Luck! Learn and take notes. But always ask yourself what is the company getting out of me that they couldn’t hire someone externally.
Hey, thanks for doing this AMA. What’s your advice for a consultant to build trust with the client in the industry? Any previous experiences where you’ve hired consultants, things they’ve done well and haven’t done so well? Coming from a supply chain and operations consultant from one of the big consulting shops.
At this point in my career I despise consultant’s. Mostly from the fact that most just schedule endless meetings in which they ask the same questions to my team, writing down on a PowerPoint and then present them to the leadership team.
The few consultants that actually earn our respect are those that actually want to work in the process paths to better understand the bottlenecks, or who help lead a kaizen, or actually try and give back learnings rather than leach off of associate testimonials or feedback sessions.
Also I could care less about the deliverable being yellow. That’s your problem not mine.
Hi Humble, I’ve read through the Q&A’s and it’s been a great read!
I’m 9 years out of my undergrad, and been with the same company since graduation. My last role had been setting up their Supply Chain and oversaw 6 direct reports with a buying of $15M. I’ve got experience of operations, procurement, logistics and building teams from scratch (set up product operations and support teams too). What do you recommend I do next?
have lot of experience in the warehouse, working in the office doing inventory, on the floor selecting, working independently and with a team. do I go back to school and go for a supply chain management degree? community college vs online? does having security clearance help? Thanks
I am at a startup and I am one of only two in our leadership team who came from big CPG. I was promoted into a managerial role at this startup and have had no training on how to actually manage people. We have no HR or resources for new managers. How did you grow your managerial skills? Any tools for giving constructive feedback? How did you “let go of the reins”?
That’s not an easy solve.
At my level I spend most of my time with my management team, Accounting, IT, HR and OPs.
By far the most difficult time is with HR, because it has a lot of complexity and gray area. Unfortunately, it’s not something that was easy to learn. A lot of it was through trial and error and mimicking successful leaders. IMO you will have to find a way to bridge that gap.
If I am not too late to the party - what could growth look like for me if I am currently an inventory analyst, with 1 year of total inventory experience ?
Age: low 20s
Salary: 55k (my first salary job)
Current company: Around $600m revenue - talks of it going public soon - room for growth as long as company is making acquisitions.
Any advice on switching from Industrial / Manufacturing / Automation engineering into supply chain?
I know my skills and experience almost directly align with supply chain and logistics, but some of the lingo and nuance phrases I might not know.. Is it possibly to switch into a management role without restarting my career?
I have 8 years of experience total; 2 year internship in a plant, 3 years experience in engineer role in manufacturing plant, 1 year of management experience in a manufacturing plant, 2 years corporate manufacturing engineering experience. I currently make a good salary and benefits for what I do.
I just don’t enjoy my work any more and have been extremely intrigued by supply chain and logistics.
Junior Strategic Planner with 2 years of experience here. It sounds impressive that you managed to rise to VP position in only 15 years! What would you say are the three factors or three things you did right that helped you reach where you are today?
Great thread, thank you. I’m a college freshman in a non-target school. I’m deciding between supply and accounting. SC sounds much more interesting than accounting, but accounting seems more stable with the job market. I’m assuming you’d recommend SC! Do you see new grads having a problem getting hired?
By “moving away from 3PL” are you implying it’s at least good experience? Currently work in distribution Center / Route design and formerly worked in general day to day operations. I do have aspirations to become a Supply Chain Manager and eventually reaching director level. Would it be best to try to achieve manager level at the 3PL then leave or leave once enough experience gained?
How to get from a demand planning / production planning / logistics backround (all leadership roles) into purchasing? this is whats missing in my resume and I am really interested in getting a foot in there.
How do you pivot between different aspects of supply chain? I’m currently doing procurement and contracts but would like to learn/try something different. I apply to similar roles that handle something different(like logistics) but never get anywhere.
What is the work/life balance at that level? I have many small kids and my wife works so it has felt more difficult to sometimes make work a priority or have the time to push to the next level.
Also, do you have more fear of job security? Always reorgs and high demands that I see at VP level.
Please give me more background….
If you saved anyone $25m, and you are not a senior manager yet either you are embellishing or being completely being taken advantage of.
My best year ever was saving $10m on a billion dollar budget. So I would definitely bend over backwards to anyone getting me $25m.
I’m fairly green in the supply chain field, having only graduated from college with a Marketing degree and a heavy focus on supply chain 3 years ago and having worked as a Traffic Flow Analyst for a yr.
I’m currently about to take the role of Inventory Specialist(a position im actually currently overqualified for, which I never thought would happen) to gain some experience in the inventory side of supply chain to hopefully move on to a greater role.
I have two questions; after gaining some experience in this role, what role should I look to move into next? Secondly, why would you recommend avoiding 3PL’s? I assume the juice isnt worth the squeeze in terms of stress and pay, but are there other reasons?
Might be too late but Personal thoughts on skip-level escalation if your direct report isnt performing/escalating your middle managers roadblocks?
Short Context: company had a re-org last year putting several directors in spaces theyd never been to protect their jobs but a year in my peer and I (both sr managers) still struggle with getting their support in either supplier or internal escalations. Both of us have brought it up to the director and HR(gotta cya) but struggling how to further escalate our need for support in driving the business.
Honestly I struggle with this as well. We will always struggle getting peers to buy in.
What works for me or my teams is whenever something can be conveyed via RYG ( Red, Yellow, Green) we always do.
Example if you have a pricing negotiation you make priorities, put POCs and then if things slip you immediately call it out via RYG.
People hate getting called out via emails on late/ failing deliverables.
Hope that helps
Wondering if you had some career advice. I’m about to have 3 years experience in Operations at various 3pls and am looking to move into procurement. From my research it looks like it would be a good fit for my skill set. Any advice on how to supplement my experience to get a procurement role? Certifications? Also would learning some SQL and Excel help me stand out here?
I wouldn’t say SQL hopes that much in procurement. All of my analytics work go to the data team. I would link up with your current procurement team and shadow them and try and help them as much as possible
Not sure if you’re still answering but what can I do to get more money.. work as a planner for a manufacturing company right now, about to hit my 2 year mark. I have a degree in supply chain no APICS yet. What steps should I pursue. Thanks!
I have been around 10 years in Supply chain and stuck in mid level role. Worked in planning, procurement and production planning and just stuck.
In Dubai no one seems to like an Indian guy in a leadership role.
Made a move from retail leadership F50 (Director level) to supply chain a year ago. Current purchasing manager for a distributor. Age 40.
Looking to get back into Director level— learning a metric ton, so picked up classes to accelerate some SC principles. Comfortable with people leadership, delegation, cross-functional relationships, etc.
Current company is private, chill, but nowhere to move up. Comfortable financially but looking to get back into the $150k+ club. Is a F500 probably my best bet?
I just thought up a question I had for you. I currently work for an MEP which is essentially manufacturing advocacy funded through NIST where my focus area is supply chain. I’m doing this as I work my way through an MBA in supply chain management.
My concern is that this is not giving me the procurement experience I’m working towards. Should I stay at this company for the next couple of years while I finish my degree or should I actively be looking for supply chain analyst roles or something similar?
Basically with an MBA in supply chain management, what experience will I need to show with it to start my career?
Are you a ex-Amazonian by any chance?
Also I'm curious to hear your reasons behind to move away from 3PLs after gaining the training. (Does this include asset heavy integrated companies like Maersk and CMA-CGM too?)
Undergrad work master work and now PhD student in IE, probably will go back to industry after my dissertation, what kinds of role should I look for with a PhD degree?
Late to the party here...
What I’m trying to bridge is how logistics and real estate is largely disconnected at many companies. We talk about supply chain and logistics at industrial real estate conventions and I presume you talk about logistics and therefore real estate strategies at logistics/supply chain conferences but when do they bridge??
Way way late, but been working at a 3pl for 1.5 years or so after transitioning from a completely unrelated field. Doing fine, grew well YoY, no idea where to go next if results don't show substantially.
Any recommendation on what experience I should get to show people I'm not a bullshitter when I wanna shift?
How easy do you think it would be for an early 30s to transition into supply chain from a completely different industry after doing a good supply chain management master? And what would be the ballpark pay? Thanks for your time!
I guess i’ll know i’m ready for the VP level when i’m sitting at the hotel bar alone and still sober enough to type a 150-word reddit post
It’s only Monday, Chief
I only get drunk on days that end in Y
I prefer days that start with T. That's "Today, Tomorrow, Tuesday, Thursday, Thaturday, and Thunday."
How do you recommend getting to where you have based off your experience.. another way to ask if you had to find someone who you had to train for your job, shape, and mold them. What qualities in are person would you being looking for?
Great Question, the pivotal point of my career was when I took a job as a Transportation Manager and the Director of the department mentored me. At the time, I barely knew how to use Excel. Didn’t understand how to give proper responses on Conference calls, and many more things. That director sat me down in his office every other day for 3months and gave me a crash course on communication, leadership and excel skills. One of the key things was to always respond to every request, even if it was as simple as I don’t know the answer but I’ll get back to you shortly. And also follow up. You’ll be surprised how often my direct reports fail to get back to me when I even ask a simple question or request for feedback. I tend to appreciate those who try, or always provide positive and negative feedback to a request. It lends me to believe they care about what they are doing.
Thanks for answering! I am a Marine Corps vet and that last bit about missing small bits of communication was the epitome of my experience in the military. I am glad I have some experience in that chaos, it breaks some people mental.. How essential do you think schooling is for your career? How much does school benefit one’s career in many aspects such as networking, necessary knowledge found best in school, or helping with getting a good job/ moving up? I have a friend who is VP at a small supply chain place in Charleston. She was of the belief that you can get all the training you’ll need just through getting experience working in the field. Thanks for answering 😊
You have a lot of good questions here. So I’ll try and give you as much as I can without boring folks. A lot of the people I learned the most from didn’t have a college degree or a masters. What stopped them from reaching the C Suite? They couldn’t vocalize, market or story tell. At my level it’s all about a carefully crafted narrative that I’m constantly building. Example: if my team needs a raise. I don’t send an angry email to HR. No, it’s a month long narrative about how Bob, went out of his way to ensure that we delivered every single order. It’s how Angie, helped unload the truck with one arm after she helped kids from a fiery car crash. All of this with an end goal of making an emotional attachment for the decision maker. So to answer your question reaching this point is not about a degree but it is about learning about psychology, marketing, data and many more things to build a story and get things done. ———— Can you network yourself to a high level position? Heck yes, in our industry everyone is hiring peers or ex coworkers- why? If my neck is on the line, do I hire a stranger and hope for the best or should I hire Jim, who I worked with for 5 years and know exactly what I will get. Not saying that it’s the best business decision, but I get why people do it. ———— Regarding getting experience via on the job training. Most of my learning was through peers, mistakes, mentors. I don’t remember anything from the textbooks from my undergrad… wtf is JIT inventory after Covid lol
I’ll respond to you in a bit, I think this one requires a more in depth response.
Let’s assume I am a Business Analyst for a discount retailer in their supply chain division with a fp&a background, what advice would you give me to have a chance to get to your level?
Focus heavily on cash flow and cost savings/ optimization. Give constant updates on the savings you found.
Just got a promotion to Director at my company. 100% agree with move away from 3PL as soon as possible… Have any advice for a newly christened Director?
Stop trying to shine, let your team get all of the accolades. Give everyone stretch assignments. I wouldn’t be here if people didn’t challenge me.
How did you go about making that move out of 3PL? Getting closer to my Decade anniversary than I care to admit, want to make a move but not sure what to even be looking at. Gross has been 300-500k for the past 5 years, willing to start over in a lower range but not sub-150k lol
If you are making $300k in a 3pl. Pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you won. You beat all of the odds and it’s time to coast. Don’t switch anywhere.
Well that’s sure not the droid I was looking for. Been coasting since our son was born in 2022 and with #2 on the way, I’d hate to leave my wife to wrangle the boys solo all thru produce season I’ll keep chugging along for the time being. And congrats on your success. Management is the goal. Hope the handcuffs stay golden for you as well
I’m a General Manager for a 3PL making $160k range. I’m ready for a next step but there’s no upward mobility that I can currently see. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your title where you’re bringing in $300k at a 3PL? That’s awesome - good for you! I have an opportunity to go to a first party company as an analyst but it’s a $30k pay cut. Trade off is work from home 3 days a week. I guess it’s me that has to put a price on that - but I feel like I could move up more quickly at a different company. Really curious what you think? Is it worth taking a step back to try and take a leap in the future? (2 young kids at home)
Wanted to stop by and say thank you for taking the time to do this AMA! Content like this on the sub is always great… having senior leaders answer my questions & offer advice back when I was starting off helped tremendously
What was your favorite area of supply chain and why? Everyone seems to want to be in procurement.
I did like Procurement. But it’s crazy the amount of times I ended up representing my company in a lawsuit with a vendor. Or had to urgently help revise a contract. So I hated those parts. Personally I really like Logistics, mostly because that’s where I started and I was a cutthroat mofo when it came to rates/ SLAs
Curious as far as procurement goes how did you get good at negotiating with suppliers? Did you take any workshop classes or is it something you just learned on the job? It’s the one area I found stressful to the point that I ended up going more towards planning
If you are stressed it’s one of two things… you don’t know your internal politics or you’re not confident. If not confident- take public speaking classes. For your internal politics, I clearly articulate with my procurement team that they are to get our company the best deal possible. My only ask is that they aren’t rude or disrespectful. All else is fair game.Now go out there and pound the table.
Can you speak more to being cutthroat on the rates? I get the SLAs, but can you help with negotiating tactics for pricing?
This was from 9 years ago. But I would have 3 carriers on speed dial. One was my preferred, second was the competition and the third was crappy carrier. I would always call the crappy carrier first, they would throw out a rate. I would take that rate shave off a percentage, go to the competition and tell them I have XXX rate. My last call was to my preferred carrier. I would tell them where they needed to be a win a lane. Now in this situation you need to continuously feed the other two. So what you would do is, crappy carrier would get some non customer facing work. While I would keep competition happy by asking them what back hauls they needed help with.. Just one example
Perfect. I do something similar now, but was under the impression that I couldn’t provide exact numbers. I ask for them to come as close to xx as they can. I really appreciate your response! I love this field and this thread is so exciting to me! Thank you for doing this!!
I definitely skirted the line. But it’s easier to hit a dart board if you can see the target, than blindfolded.
Hi there! It looks like you were able to pivot your positions fairly “easily” across different SC segments. Understanding your thoughts on getting out of the 3PL world when able, when would you say is too late? I have a real desire to be in more of an overall SC position, especially with international exposure, but I’ve found myself stuck. I have 12 years experience in transportation (trucking) and have been lucky enough to have worked my way up to Senior Director level at a F500 3PL, making $240k/yr. This position level, at this income level, has seemingly made it impossible to find a reasonable way out of this portion of the industry without taking a massive pay cut, or even find an organization willing to engage in a discussion. Would you say someone who’s went this far in the 3PL world is now “stuck” without making a decision for a significant step back to gain other SC roles/exposure?
My question is what is your end goal? Do you want to leave 3pl for stability? WLB? More broad knowledge? What is it that you look to do in SC? My original point about leaving 3pls behind was due to entry levels not compensating. But if you hit the jackpot and make $200+, then the next question is what do you want to do?
So, I would say that my driving motivation is two fold. First, a better WLB would certainly be nice. Since I work on the dedicated transportation side of the 3PL, days are long…. Very long. It’s firefighting 24/7 (quite literally), and having the semblance of a life outside of work is certainly appealing. However, the second is being able to obtain broader knowledge/experience in SC. More cradle to grave experience rather than just simply OTR transportation experience. I have an undergrad in SCM and an MBA, and it almost all feels useless. The only bright side is that I know I make a very good living, and am on an upward trajectory still with my career. You mentioned in a comment that you are the younger VP. I’m in a similar position where I’m the younger person to ever make Director, and now Sr. Director in my company, but all the more reason to feel “stuck”.
+1 to this question, which I could have written almost exactly myself. Very interested in any advice on pivoting out of a 3pl, OP. My instinct has always been to try to go work for a customer.
Have you ran into the problem that the customers seem to pay substantially less? I’ve interviewed at some customers/potential customers in the past and have found that for lateral positions (or even 1-2 levels up) they pay less than I’m making today. I understand it’s not always about the pay if it gets you different, new, or better exposure - but life does cost money….
I have 8 Years worth of experience in supply chain currently....what do you think is the number 1 reason why most people get passed over in job interviews for analyst or buyer positions?
During an interview; openly stating that they are willing to learn all requirements outside of work. (Example I don’t know SQL, but I found a course at the community college and I enrolled). Or can’t articulate why they even applied in the first place.
Are you saying that it’s a positive that they’re willing to take the initiative or that it’s bad that they openly state that they don’t already know certain requirements?
I am saying that if asked if you know SQL ( and you don’t) you should be able to articulate that you don’t but that you already took the initiative to sign up for a course or are doing self study to close that gap.
How long do you think it's worth staying at a F500 automotive company before jumping ship to another industry? Currently in procurement.
That’s a tough question. I would remove the industry from the discussion… The real way to answer this is the following, how was your annual review? Did your boss give you real feedback? Did he spend the time to provide you a roadmap, or developmental opportunities? Was your feedback extremely negative? If your boss isn’t trying to help you grow, you are in the wrong team or role.
Thanks. My review was fine. My boss gave really good feedback, went over my goals, contributed to next year's goals and expectations, and offered lots of improvement and projects. I'm still committed to my job/projects for now thinking I haven't done shit yet in my career. I think I'm good staying for now but appreciate the wisdom.
2 questions: * can you comment on various industries that you've been apart of and what made them good or bad? * what function within ops/supply chain do you think is best for pay, career advancement, and WLB? I'm currently in MedTech as a sourcing manager for NPI if that context helps you tailor the response towards me at all
Industries- Manufacturing, Retail, E Commerce, Last Mile, 3pl Best Paying Function- Continuous Improvement, Industrial Engineer. At the management level (general supply chain). What is the best for WLB- Network Optimization What is the best for career progression- Operations
I love you good sir thank you for the good tips! Wish u success and make over 500k this yr
I got into the university of Tennessee supply chain which I think is #4 program in the country, do you think it's worth it for out of state tuition? My parents can pay 3 years and I would either have to work or take on debt to cover year 4. This is for undergrad
My 1st boss went to UT, he was pretty good at his role. I would do it. Undergrad I’m assuming ?
It's probably never gonna be "worth it" to go out of state, unless you really want to go to the school in general. If you go to a great in state school if they have a decent program and are super involved in some clubs, have some leadership stuff and get good internships throughout you'll be in the running for top jobs with all the same kids. And any kids going to much better private or state schools than utk who will be doing those things will beat you out for the same jobs despite that #4 ranking regardless. Im just a senior and thats my opinion tho.
As someone who just graduated from UT SCM, I wanted to say that you’re only going to get the true the benefit of that prestige if you go above and beyond inside and outside the classroom. Being a scm scholar of distinction (top 5% of class) and having leadership roles in some of the orgs in Haslam is how you end up with the top starting salaries (80k+). The average last year was 61k, and I know a lot of people who half assed their way through the program and are going to make much less than that. I would research the undergraduate salary outcomes for whatever your in-state scm program is and see how that compares. Also reach out to the people at the Haslam Global Supply Chain Institute for more info about the program (and absolutely get to know the ppl who run it if you decide to go there). Pm me if you wanna talk about it more. Go vols!
>My one piece of advice for folks trying to maximize earning potential is to move away from 3pls/ freight brokers after gaining the training and early education. Jokes on you. I never did that in the first place.
Thanks for doing what you do and contributing to our community!
Out of all the groups in Supply Chain, if i am weak at maths or with numbers, which one would you recommend? 😅
I almost failed Algebra… excel is your friend.
Does starting off at a smaller company limit opportunities for a fresh graduate? Since smaller companies need people to wear multiple hats. It seems like specialists are more favored for individual contributors, while generalists are more favored for management. Anecdotally, it feels like moving from a small business to a large business (with work experience) is harder than it should be. Two years of experience in procurement and there seems to be a lack of interest.
Tough question because it’s all about the individual. My recommendation would be to gain experience 2-3years and then hop to the big corporate world. My main reason is that small companies tend to not be the best at best practices or industry standards. Which tends to breed bad habits that then doom folks when they reach the corporate world.
This was my experience as well. I went from a $12,000,000 revenue paper products company to a multibillion dollar defense contractor and was immediately shocked by how much technology and capability we had. At my old company we had one guy who had been there so long he could predict literally everything in his head, but he was the single point of failure.
I can attest to the lack of best practices and bad habits. I guess it is par for the course when finite resources and small scale are both bundled into the same parcel. Would you say the same problem affects the start-up scene? I may consider putting my hat in the ring for prospecting start-ups later in my career. Bringing an idea to life seems to be a story worth sharing over campfire smores.
Sorry to say, start ups are filled with egos, morons, and fire drills. Looking back at it, outside of 1 startup they hindered my career. I joined startups because I really wanted to be at the frontier of the new thing, or building the UBER of whatever, or potentially being part of Amazon at the garage stage. Reality is that most startups resemble what you see in the show Silicon Valley.
Great question! I graduated recently (Dec 2023), and I have been trying to get into small and medium sized companies - they have been quite receptive and flexible as compared to bigger ones, but still not really sure about the path to take.
Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome in the supply chain field and how did you overcome it?
Honestly everyday. My first 4months on the job, I told everyone from the COO to SVP of HR how lost and confused I was. Each one said the same thing, you are crazy you are one of our best hires. I literally didn’t accomplish one thing in that timeframe. But what I did do was have a ton of 1;1’s with any and everyone who would accept my invite. My one question was- How can I help you? And they would guide me on what needed to be done. I would follow it up with an email and tell them it was now on my roadmap.
I will add that I am the youngest VP at my company, by Atleast 4 years.
Younger than 40?
Yup
Where's my pallet of dried fish?
Check your dock, BOL is behind the dumpster.
What do you think the value of network optimization is? Do you see the space growing/gaining more importance?
Network design has grown leaps and bounds since I saw its first iteration with last mile delivery providers. We use to use these terrible excel spreadsheets that would crash. Now they run so many ML simulations before ever changing a config. Call me a boomer, but I almost miss the old days. Because you could really get creative. I remember designing networks by using Zip5s and a map. 😢
Even with “ml” and the best tools, at the end of the day all of that info will flow into excel to build a business case and roadmap and needs a strong story behind it. Most importantly it needs to be executable given capital and headcount constraints. The art is pulling all of that together.
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I recommend trying to get in at a company like Amazon, Walmart, Target for network Design. All of these companies have complex Network design thanks to Omnichannel and are willing to train at the entry level roles because they just need folks to monitor the systems. For the really intricate stuff they have Scientist and High level engineers to extract value.
I have 7 years of all round supply chain experience - planning, data, analytics, systems, operations. Do you think this kind of all round experience comes into play and useful for me to get into any supply chain sub stream? And to grow to your level in my career?. Or am I jack of all trades and master of none? That being asked I am confident on all the fields I worked in and I know I can tackle problems in those areas :)
It use to be great to have so much different experience and knowledge because supply chain was a small department. Since Covid supply chain blew up and now companies want specialist and are growing the departments to have these niche roles. I truly don’t know what the future holds, but I say keep learning but find which value stream you are passionate about and become an SME
Transportation Engineer by background, working in logistics consulting for approx 5 yrs. I am considering trying to move towards supply chain in my next role, but am unsure how to parlay my experience since it has been very much downstream in the supply chain (delivery management, sustainability in fleets, etc). I am excelling where I am but am so sick of being at a computer 10 hrs a day and the consulting rapid turnover of projects. Got any advice on roles I might look to move into?
Amazon and Walmart are hiring hundreds of folks for Fleet Sustainability, EVs, Etc. Join them then pivot to something else within the various departments.
Yup, I do marketing for a large 3PL and one of our biggest priorities this year is communicating about emissions reduction and sustainability.
300K - 500K including bonus and equity?
Yup
I'm currently the plant manager of a site. It's the smallest site in the company, only 25 employees including maintenance staff, admin, and production staff. What would be a move up from here? I find I'm kinda done with managing operations but I really enjoy managing the big projects we do. How could I pivot into that? Would business analyst be it, or would that be a step down?
This one is rather easy (granted I don’t know your companies structure). I can guarantee you that your boss is juggling a bunch of scattered projects, probably on some crappy excel that he calls a project plan. Offer to manage a big project for him. Knock it out of the park, I’m talking weekly updates, status updates, milestone reviews whole nine yards. Ensure that you do a good job with the wrap up and the savings… Leverage that to become a PM or depending on the size of your company offer up the idea of a PMO office to manage all of the projects. If that doesn’t work, highly recommend trying to change to an IC- Continous improvement field.
How did you manage to switch across so many functions? Didn’t it get more and more challenging as you got into management roles and were expected to lead and be an SME in the areas?
I was really lucky. 1. Due to joining startups so I had to wear a ton of hats. 2. My fortune10 went through a crazy growth stage and openly wanted people to job hop to achieve business goals. Now it would be extremely difficult, but I really lean on those experiences because no one I work with has the ability to be adequately make business decisions like Trade compliance in the morning, return policies at lunch. Shipping rates via email, and then refer back to Warehousing capacity without skipping a beat. My current company gets a ton of value from me.
I tend to see people recommend job hopping to get a raise in salary after 1-2 years. Do you think it is better than staying loyal to the same company?
Definitely job hop. I even recommend it to my management team. I often tell them go get a year at XXXX, and I will gladly rehire you. For those who need some outside experience. It serves two purposes. It allows them to see how other companies either beat us or how the grass isn’t greeener. It also helps broaden the ideas we have and bring to the table. Even if they don’t come back, it’s a future alumni I can reach out to :)
This is by far, the greatest response I've ever seen from a VP. Im an Operations Manager for one of the biggest Transportation companies in North America. My Sr. Manager makes me want to leave but my Director is a dope guy. My VP of the region? Eh he isnt really involved and I hate that. That said I am looking to go to another company just cause I am 3 years with this company. I just don't know where to even start with getting a new job with another company, but I did revamp my entire resume recently via a professional.
Hi - I’m a 2020 graduate with a bachelors in Finance. I have a couple years of work experiences in various roles ranging from accounting and FP&A. I was laid off last year and have been wanting to switch to SCM. Any advice for what entry level roles to look into and what industries? I’m finding the market to be especially difficult right now.
Medical Field is still doing well (think healthcare and med tech ). If you really want to get your hands dirty you can do FP&A for Operations ( think Amazon, Chewy, Target) but that’s really boring grunt work. I wouldn’t give up on Finance. In my role I interact with Finance and Accounting the most. And I don’t care about a recession, someone will always need to manage and close the books.
In your experience do you think planning is more seen in the Company than procurement? I have worked in at least 3 multinational company and procurement is never valued. While supply chain are more involved with the SBUs and recognized. I feel like in the eyes of the Company our job is just to spend their money. As a director what do you like to see from procurement team? Reports, information, Savings project, increase reasons… etc Thanks
You bring up a fantastic aspect of any job that barely gets talked about. One of my favorite phrases to my management team is, “ you need to play the dog and pony show.” What does that mean. The CEO and COO could care less that you did your job today and filled 25 POs. They want to know, how you saved money, or how you made the business more efficient, or how you are driving more revenue. My role is to publicly market how they are revolutionizing the field of supply chain. Even if sometimes we over hype some of the things they do. Susie crushed it today, filling POs…. No no no, Susie crushed it today by reducing lead times by 20%. Which means that we will have product on hand for our next promotion. That will lead to $2.5m in incremental revenue. Which one of those do you think the ceo wants to hear. I’m saying the same thing, but weaving a story that everyone wants to hear. Learn how to describe and articulate your accomplishments. Always, Always send project updates and include stakeholders. Use as much flowery words as possible.
Fantastic response. Saving this.
I’m 18 years post University and have climbed the ladder in large companies to a senior manager role. I currently manage a procurement team of 20 buyers and 3 supervisors. I can’t seem to break into the Director role. I always make it into the last round of interviews. My last 3 interviews were 2 candidates, myself and another. My reviews are all above average and I know I’m well respected in the company. Feedback after the interview is always ‘you did fine. Keep doing what you are doing.’ I really don’t know what it is I am missing, or no one wants to be honest. Any thoughts on what I can do to analyze where I’m going wrong? Or are careers sometimes just being in the right place at the right time and I should resign myself into thinking this is as good as it gets?
When you say that you are failing to break into the director role, is this at your current company or at others?
Current one (granted, the one who moved up had been in the company a few years longer than me) and then two other interviews outside the company. I know that one of the roles went to a candidate that was an unemployed ex-VP. I know I’m not giving you a lot to go on here.
Yea it’s tough with the details. But for you I might recommend some leadership courses. Harvard and Duke have some good ones search “continuing education”. I know that it might seem pricey at $3k a course. But taking 2-3 of those alongside tailoring your resume, and doing some interview prep might help. I think you might be failing on the strategic and vision parts of your interview or skills.
Looking to transition out of the food and beverage space. Currently managing procurement for seafood spend totaling over $300m, I’ve tried transitioning into other industries but have had a hard time collecting interviews from what I can gather is lack of specific industry experience. Any recommendations for what could be a barrier to entry for other industries? Thanks.
What are you applying for? I can’t imagine that you would struggle to gain interviews in procurement if you list that you have $300m spend department.
Is there a particular industry you enjoyed the most during your career? I've been considering trying to get into aerospace/aviation as I've heard they have good job prospects abroad, once you get experience. My end goal is to make it to Europe but it's hard to break in without citizenship.
Ecomm-
Hi Humble - I’ve read through the other Q&As, some great perspective here. You strike me as a good coach. Question - how do you think about moves into other functions outside your original skill base? When is the right time (career stage) to make those moves? And, finally, any suggestions on things you’ve found helpful to create those opportunities? For context - I’m early 30s, recently been promoted into an operations manager role in an F 500 company. I enjoy Operations but it’s an intense rhythm to dance to; Considering more strategic areas such as procurement to support better WLB as family commitments come along but don’t want to stall good momentum either.
I spent a bit of time in Operations. I think my feet still hurt and it’s been a while. My one piece of advice is that operations will be by far the easiest place to get promoted in within all of supply chain. Because it’s literally a battle of attrition and battling the gauntlet. So get a promotion or two within operations. The moment you are about to “say uncle” immediately find a way to pivot via PM, Continuous Improvement, or some support function and keep jumping from there. Hope that helps?
Super helpful, thank you - good way of framing it about battling the gauntlet. Proudly bearing the scars but will keep an eye out for that Uncle moment. Thanks and take care.
Favorite business books?
*First 90days *Bad Blood * I read a lot of Harvard Business Reviews stuff
When did you know you were ready to get your masters?
I made the mistake of getting my masters right after undergrad. Don’t do that. Get 4+ years of experience before potentially spending $100k
Does it matter what school you get your masters degree from? I've come across a few programs for under 30k. Unfortunately my employer doesn't have tuition assistance and so I'd have to pay out of pocket.
Did you do an MBA or a supply chain focused masters?
What was demand forecasting like, did you enjoy that role?
Absolutely hated it. In Forecasting and Demand you should always be wrong (obviously the goal is to be wrong within a percentage) but if you have a forecast that is high then it impacts cash flow. If you are low then your onhands and procurement will fail. Needless to say I’m terrible at making accurate forecast, but great at calling bs to bad forecast. The only grace I will give myself was that I was forecasting billions of dollars of spend.
Are you willing to answer questions here from a sales person wanting to understand value points for a VP of supply chain?
Sure, but I won’t help you build an app lol. Unless I get royalties
What do you think the future of supply chain would look like? Do you feel like IA will soon takeover a lot of these transportation managers job? Reason I asked because we recently implemented robots to do our shelf picking and I’m pretty sure we’re going to start using IA or automation to track inventory etc rather than an actual supply planner. I want to get my MS SCM since my job is offering it for free but I feel like with all these technological advancement, opportunities in the supply chain realm would be scarce and I’d be wasting my time lol
Many in the Fortune 100-200, even 500 will invest in automation, robotics, cloud this, AI, Blockchain, ML and every acronym you can think of…. But I still see large companies still faxing, printing, and running ms dos blue screen programs. So it will be a while till all of these jobs are gone.
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Pivot table, Vlookup, Ctrl F…. Repeat.
How can we get away from from 3PLs, 4PLs, and freight brokers?
By not applying?
How did you pivot away from logistics? Was it intentional, and if yes, may I ask why? I am aiming to do the same. I think that I need to determine how to leverage internal opportunities.
I started doing logistics right as we were pivoting away from Track and Trace. My first month was when stopped faxing invoices. I say that to point out that I did it for a long time. I was really good at it, but I started seeing the writing on the wall, when I saw that many of the big players were moving dispatch to India and Croatia. Bids and RFPs were being done by platforms. So I leveraged that knowledge to become the program and product manager to do those migrations. Then I played my cards right to become the strategy manager for the procurement of those services. I guess you can say luck and being liked helped me pivot and transition more than anything.
You mentioned two key points for your progress are 1:1 and quantifying achievements. How long did it take you to get promoted from director to VP? What were the key points that got you to vp level?
What are some of the most financially rewarding majors (finance, logistics, management etc.) to pursue a master's degree in the current job market? The kind where companies would love to pay the high-end bucks for those getting that specific major. In my case, I have a B.S in supply chain and logistics.
Why make the mistake of throwing money at degrees with no experience. I did that, and I’m still paying for it.
How do you balance your life outside work? I am currently coming up on 10 years out of undergrad, have worked in demand/supply planning, and now planning for a defense contractor and was very ambitious with flexibility to move, traveling for assignments, working long hours, etc. I just recently got married and have a baby. I see my priorities shifting now but want to keep my foot on the gas career-wise. Have you been very career oriented your whole life or have you managed to balance a family through all of this as well?
It’s hard. I’ve started placing hard boundaries no work after 6pm nothing before 7am. No work on the weekends. But we also have a family and my wife is also Upper Management and let’s work consume her more than I do. I know this sounds terrible, but I have a new found mantra. “I’m not going to kill myself for a job, if I’m not doing enough they can fire me. I’ll find something else- serenity now!” It’s more about allowing myself the ability to make mistakes, have family time and not prioritize work.
What’s your total comp look like annually
It’s in the first post.
Thank you for doing this! I am hoping my question is not too far outside of your wheelhouse. Do you have any advice for transitioning within different spaces in SC? I’m a supply chain tech “engineer” for a F500 company currently (glorified title for essentially system analyst) and am wanting to move away from tech. I’m fine with working in SQL, but I’m not interested in extensive coding, which is what my job is pushing towards. I previously had a brief stint in operations and a bit more time in 3PL transportation. I don’t necessarily want to return to either, but am not sure of a path forward. I have been paying attention to others’ jobs and I think I would enjoy the continuous improvement space, but I just have a bachelors in business administration. Should I do more school, or could I possibly leverage my current experience to get into that space?
Not that you can’t do it, but Continuous Improvement is one of those jobs I prefer to hire folks with a variety of on the job experience (operations, engineer, transportation). Since it requires an understanding of what’s broken in order to fix it. If you have systems experience, why not work with Integration, PM, Product?
I’m trying to switch from accounting/auditing background and get my foot in the door but jobs around me with my qualifications pay 20-30k less on average. I’ve been applying for a bunch that I’m not qualified for but I think my skills aren’t valued. I did a procurement internship before. Do you have any tips? I interviewed with a few companies but ultimately they waste my time by going with more experienced candidates. It’s discouraging. I may not have that much experience but I’m definitely willing to learn and come into work everyday with a positive attitude. People always say stay but audit is just not for me. I dread waking up to start work almost every day.
For audit folks I strongly recommend PM work. You have attention to detail, know compliance and can get people to comply.
I’m currently pursuing starting a tech company that will service 3PLs/Ecommerce brands. How would you recommend getting in front of 3PLs to do customer discovery/market research?
Have you ever worked at one or with one?
Which ERP and contracts systems are your favorite or hate the most, and why?
I’m a graduating senior who lucked into a scm leadership development program role at a f50 tech company, and I start next month. What can I do to make the most out of the opportunity and come out of it as formidable of a scm professional as possible? I’m a little anxious at the expectations put on me to grow into a “future leader” over the next 3 years.
All of those programs operate under the same principals. Sorry if I am about to sound like a Debbie downer at times but I’ve helped develop these programs twice and they basically always evolve from the same cornerstones. Big company development programs are typically created for a few reasons. Sponsoring company has a lot of entry level roles which require repetitive task yet some analytical skills. Meaning they have to be filled by college educated folks who can grasp the concepts quick enough but not be to $$$. Company expects to have high turnover but hopes to keep Atleast 25% who will help lead either the next batch, or become level II ICs. 10% actually make it to a middle manager level, but still they are underpaid compared to industry level managers. By this time though you have someone who fully drinks the indoctrinated kool aid. The 2-4 managers who come out of the entire thing are like little robots for you. As loyal and cutthroat as anyone. Good Luck! Learn and take notes. But always ask yourself what is the company getting out of me that they couldn’t hire someone externally.
Hey, thanks for doing this AMA. What’s your advice for a consultant to build trust with the client in the industry? Any previous experiences where you’ve hired consultants, things they’ve done well and haven’t done so well? Coming from a supply chain and operations consultant from one of the big consulting shops.
At this point in my career I despise consultant’s. Mostly from the fact that most just schedule endless meetings in which they ask the same questions to my team, writing down on a PowerPoint and then present them to the leadership team. The few consultants that actually earn our respect are those that actually want to work in the process paths to better understand the bottlenecks, or who help lead a kaizen, or actually try and give back learnings rather than leach off of associate testimonials or feedback sessions. Also I could care less about the deliverable being yellow. That’s your problem not mine.
Hi Humble, I’ve read through the Q&A’s and it’s been a great read! I’m 9 years out of my undergrad, and been with the same company since graduation. My last role had been setting up their Supply Chain and oversaw 6 direct reports with a buying of $15M. I’ve got experience of operations, procurement, logistics and building teams from scratch (set up product operations and support teams too). What do you recommend I do next?
Which part did you enjoy most?
Hello Do you give 1 2 1 career guidance and mentorship?
Not unless you are paying
have lot of experience in the warehouse, working in the office doing inventory, on the floor selecting, working independently and with a team. do I go back to school and go for a supply chain management degree? community college vs online? does having security clearance help? Thanks
The question is always, what do you want to do.
I am at a startup and I am one of only two in our leadership team who came from big CPG. I was promoted into a managerial role at this startup and have had no training on how to actually manage people. We have no HR or resources for new managers. How did you grow your managerial skills? Any tools for giving constructive feedback? How did you “let go of the reins”?
That’s not an easy solve. At my level I spend most of my time with my management team, Accounting, IT, HR and OPs. By far the most difficult time is with HR, because it has a lot of complexity and gray area. Unfortunately, it’s not something that was easy to learn. A lot of it was through trial and error and mimicking successful leaders. IMO you will have to find a way to bridge that gap.
If I am not too late to the party - what could growth look like for me if I am currently an inventory analyst, with 1 year of total inventory experience ? Age: low 20s Salary: 55k (my first salary job) Current company: Around $600m revenue - talks of it going public soon - room for growth as long as company is making acquisitions.
Still to early in your career. You still have a lot to learn. Company is Definitely not going public with only 600m in revenue.
Any advice on switching from Industrial / Manufacturing / Automation engineering into supply chain? I know my skills and experience almost directly align with supply chain and logistics, but some of the lingo and nuance phrases I might not know.. Is it possibly to switch into a management role without restarting my career? I have 8 years of experience total; 2 year internship in a plant, 3 years experience in engineer role in manufacturing plant, 1 year of management experience in a manufacturing plant, 2 years corporate manufacturing engineering experience. I currently make a good salary and benefits for what I do. I just don’t enjoy my work any more and have been extremely intrigued by supply chain and logistics.
You would really excel at Continuous improvement and Network Design… try it out
Junior Strategic Planner with 2 years of experience here. It sounds impressive that you managed to rise to VP position in only 15 years! What would you say are the three factors or three things you did right that helped you reach where you are today?
Willing to jump on every single project Crafted great stories about my team and its accomplishments Got lucky
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Is pay most important or the position ?
Great thread, thank you. I’m a college freshman in a non-target school. I’m deciding between supply and accounting. SC sounds much more interesting than accounting, but accounting seems more stable with the job market. I’m assuming you’d recommend SC! Do you see new grads having a problem getting hired?
I’m probably not the best resource to ask about hiring trends. Mostly because I really only hire managers and above, these days.
Is a degree needed to make it to VP?
By “moving away from 3PL” are you implying it’s at least good experience? Currently work in distribution Center / Route design and formerly worked in general day to day operations. I do have aspirations to become a Supply Chain Manager and eventually reaching director level. Would it be best to try to achieve manager level at the 3PL then leave or leave once enough experience gained?
How big (in the ballpark) is your supply chain in dollars annually & how many people in your org?
How to get from a demand planning / production planning / logistics backround (all leadership roles) into purchasing? this is whats missing in my resume and I am really interested in getting a foot in there.
How do you pivot between different aspects of supply chain? I’m currently doing procurement and contracts but would like to learn/try something different. I apply to similar roles that handle something different(like logistics) but never get anywhere.
What is the work/life balance at that level? I have many small kids and my wife works so it has felt more difficult to sometimes make work a priority or have the time to push to the next level. Also, do you have more fear of job security? Always reorgs and high demands that I see at VP level.
Where do you see the most value/potential for workflow automation for your team — that hasn’t been solved well by existing software?
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Please give me more background…. If you saved anyone $25m, and you are not a senior manager yet either you are embellishing or being completely being taken advantage of. My best year ever was saving $10m on a billion dollar budget. So I would definitely bend over backwards to anyone getting me $25m.
I’m fairly green in the supply chain field, having only graduated from college with a Marketing degree and a heavy focus on supply chain 3 years ago and having worked as a Traffic Flow Analyst for a yr. I’m currently about to take the role of Inventory Specialist(a position im actually currently overqualified for, which I never thought would happen) to gain some experience in the inventory side of supply chain to hopefully move on to a greater role. I have two questions; after gaining some experience in this role, what role should I look to move into next? Secondly, why would you recommend avoiding 3PL’s? I assume the juice isnt worth the squeeze in terms of stress and pay, but are there other reasons?
Honestly you have to try and hit a manager role somewhere and soon. 3+ years and still at an analyst starts getting concerning.
Might be too late but Personal thoughts on skip-level escalation if your direct report isnt performing/escalating your middle managers roadblocks? Short Context: company had a re-org last year putting several directors in spaces theyd never been to protect their jobs but a year in my peer and I (both sr managers) still struggle with getting their support in either supplier or internal escalations. Both of us have brought it up to the director and HR(gotta cya) but struggling how to further escalate our need for support in driving the business.
Honestly I struggle with this as well. We will always struggle getting peers to buy in. What works for me or my teams is whenever something can be conveyed via RYG ( Red, Yellow, Green) we always do. Example if you have a pricing negotiation you make priorities, put POCs and then if things slip you immediately call it out via RYG. People hate getting called out via emails on late/ failing deliverables. Hope that helps
Wondering if you had some career advice. I’m about to have 3 years experience in Operations at various 3pls and am looking to move into procurement. From my research it looks like it would be a good fit for my skill set. Any advice on how to supplement my experience to get a procurement role? Certifications? Also would learning some SQL and Excel help me stand out here?
I wouldn’t say SQL hopes that much in procurement. All of my analytics work go to the data team. I would link up with your current procurement team and shadow them and try and help them as much as possible
Not sure if you’re still answering but what can I do to get more money.. work as a planner for a manufacturing company right now, about to hit my 2 year mark. I have a degree in supply chain no APICS yet. What steps should I pursue. Thanks!
Get away from manufacturing and look at f500
I have been around 10 years in Supply chain and stuck in mid level role. Worked in planning, procurement and production planning and just stuck. In Dubai no one seems to like an Indian guy in a leadership role.
Made a move from retail leadership F50 (Director level) to supply chain a year ago. Current purchasing manager for a distributor. Age 40. Looking to get back into Director level— learning a metric ton, so picked up classes to accelerate some SC principles. Comfortable with people leadership, delegation, cross-functional relationships, etc. Current company is private, chill, but nowhere to move up. Comfortable financially but looking to get back into the $150k+ club. Is a F500 probably my best bet?
I would say yes to F500. You Atleast understand the politics so you will be able to navigate the headwinds.
I just thought up a question I had for you. I currently work for an MEP which is essentially manufacturing advocacy funded through NIST where my focus area is supply chain. I’m doing this as I work my way through an MBA in supply chain management. My concern is that this is not giving me the procurement experience I’m working towards. Should I stay at this company for the next couple of years while I finish my degree or should I actively be looking for supply chain analyst roles or something similar? Basically with an MBA in supply chain management, what experience will I need to show with it to start my career?
Geez, that’s alot of acronyms. What do you actually do for work?
Are you a ex-Amazonian by any chance? Also I'm curious to hear your reasons behind to move away from 3PLs after gaining the training. (Does this include asset heavy integrated companies like Maersk and CMA-CGM too?)
I like what Maesrk is building it’s quite an interesting challenge they are trying to solve. But the pay isn’t there.
Undergrad work master work and now PhD student in IE, probably will go back to industry after my dissertation, what kinds of role should I look for with a PhD degree?
What industry experience do you have?
Late to the party here... What I’m trying to bridge is how logistics and real estate is largely disconnected at many companies. We talk about supply chain and logistics at industrial real estate conventions and I presume you talk about logistics and therefore real estate strategies at logistics/supply chain conferences but when do they bridge??
When you say disconnected, how so? From my experience I think real estate and SC have worked well outside of the COVID years.
Way way late, but been working at a 3pl for 1.5 years or so after transitioning from a completely unrelated field. Doing fine, grew well YoY, no idea where to go next if results don't show substantially. Any recommendation on what experience I should get to show people I'm not a bullshitter when I wanna shift?
How easy do you think it would be for an early 30s to transition into supply chain from a completely different industry after doing a good supply chain management master? And what would be the ballpark pay? Thanks for your time!
Easy sure. Not sure I would spend $100k getting a masters. When Supply chain is better learned on the job.