WHAT THEY EARN: FORWARDERS, BROKERS, 3PLS
Average annual survey, in thousands of dollars, for international forwarders, customs brokers and logistics providers.
Salary Range
Job description REGION
Northeast
Import/Export Southeast
manager Midwest
Northwest
Southwest
Northeast
Licensed Southeast
Customs Midwest
Broker Northwest Southwest
Northeast
Branch Southeast
manager Midwest
Northwest
Southwest
Northeast
Regional Southeast
manager * Midwest Northwest
Southwest
Northeast
GM/VP/ Southeast
executive Midwest Northwest
Southwest
Northeast
Southeast
Sales Midwest
Northwest
Southwest
40 50 60 70 80
90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220
* Regional, general and executive managerial positions may interchange Source: Tyler Search Consultants
mally are filled either by promoting experts from within the company or hiring experienced professionals from other companies by offering a higher wage or better package of incentives.
Another hot area for employment is in trade compliance, especially in the export arena now that U.S. exports are booming, Conroy says. Although it would appear that agencies that enforce U.S. import and export laws such as Customs and Border Protection or the Bureau of Census would be goldmines for businesses, this is not the case, he says. The ideal trade compliance hire is someone who worked at an agency such as Customs for two to five years and then worked for a private-sector company in compliance, Conroy said.
The dilemma facing companies is that the pool of experienced logistics professionals looking for jobs is small. Because these companies limit their search to candidates with logistics experience, they increasingly look to recent graduates of university logistics programs who have gotten some on-the-job experience through paid internships.
Although there are some high-paying positions available on the market, overall hiring is basically flat. Conroy
gives the environment a “C-plus” grade compared to the employment situation in past years.
Still, some segments — including positions in procurement and purchasing and trade compliance — are performing extremely well. Others such as those in warehousing, 3PLs, brokers and forwarders are above average, while Conroy gives the market on the carrier operations side a “D-minus.”
Employers can be choosy because there are a number of undervalued managers and directors in the market, he added. For example, a manager who has stayed with the same company for a number of years may be earning $90,000, but would be earning $120,000 for the same position if he or she had moved regularly from one company to another.
That candidate should not expect to move today to another company for $120,000 because the employer will base the salary offer primarily on the candidate’s present wage. An offer of a 15 percent salary increase would be standard, a 20 percent increase would be very good and an offer of a 25 percent increase should be grabbed
immediately, Conroy says.
Job candidates are likewise being choosy when they look for jobs, Dvonch says. If the job offer is from a company in the same region, but the commute to the new company is noticeably longer than the candidate’s current commute, the candidate will often turn down the job because the salary increase would be lost to high gasoline prices.
Candidates also are turning down offers to move to distant cities because they feel they will be unable to sell their house at an acceptable price in today’s declining housing market.
Although the areas of greatest job availability continue to be the Northeast, California and Chicago, candidates from smaller cities are turning down offers in those high-cost-of-living locations, recruiting experts say.
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