During my Army career, I have been assigned to various positions where my functional knowledge and experience has been akin to those I have worked with to greater and lesser degrees. I have been assigned to units where I have been the only Logistician, or at least the most senior, and I have been assigned to other units where nearly everyone was a Logistician as well.
I can honestly say that I’ve experienced the greatest job satisfaction when I have been “the Logistician” on a team with folks from other various disciplines as opposed to being “just another Logistician” amongst many.
As I try to narrow the industry focus for my upcoming transition, I keep coming back to the same question: do I want to be a Logistician in a logistics company (UPS, FedEx, DHL, BNSF Logistics, etc.), or do I want to be the Logistician in a company that has a different primary focus and core competency (manufacturing, for instance)?
Can anyone share your experience with this paradigm in the corporate world? If you worked as a low-density expert in a company with an operational focus outside of your functional discipline, how did you find it? Was it rewarding to be seen as a valued member with complimentary and important input? Were you seen as an evil necessity? If you worked in a company with a focus on your professional discipline (accountant in an accounting firm, for instance), was the experience positive? Did you benefit from close contact with so many other like-minded professionals? Were your decisions or opinions second-guessed by colleagues or superiors who felt they knew you job better than you?
Thank you all, in advance, for the input!
Answers
Hi Joshua,
I am aligning with Michael that you might want to explore both. Many major good non-logistic companies recognize Logistic/supply chain is a very important function. Not only Lean out routing and cost, but also able to deliver products to the right place at the right time without huge on hand inventory. Remember Steve Job stated that Apple went to China is not because cheap labor but the logistic efficiency he can’t find in U.S. (which is true)
I suggest do not rule out companies like Amazon, Cisco, Procter & Gamble or J&J…...In addition, once established your performance, reputation and network with other functional groups like planning, operations, purchasing… or if you decide to try other functions, you don’t have to start over with another company. I have seen people started in Logistic and end up become VP in Operations. Leadership and other transferrable skills are what good companies looking for….
Assess your interest and goal. My CEO (Captain of Special Force) started in Sale and look at where he ends up now.
Feel free to contact me if we can share more.
Good luck and thanks for your service!
Joshua, I think it would depend on the specific company and role. You stated that you had "...the greatest job satisfaction when I have been “the Logistician” on a team with folks from other various disciplines as opposed to being “just another Logistician” amongst many." So if you join a huge Logistics company with "many" others, you might be unhappy, unless the role was in a different area - non organic growth or new venture. The same could be said about being the "Only" fish in the pond, as you may not have other Logisticians to consult if a project grows too big. I always recommend researching any role before you go for the interview, so you should have a good idea of the size of the pond and were you might fit among the other fish in the school.
I recommend joining a company who's core competency is logistics. Here's why:
1) As a transitioning officer, it's best to have a soft landing. Even though you'd be considered a lateral hire with experience, you want the soft landing.
2) By soft landing, I mean you'll most likely have less responsibility initially and will be given time to learn all of the other corporate stuff necessary to be successful
3) You'll have a much larger network of peers and support. Don't underestimate this, as having multiple layers of support and mentorship is very important while in the learning phase.
4) Broad versus Narrow initial experience: broad, shallow initial experience will give you time to think about where you'd like to take your corporate career
I've seen this before in my company with attorneys. We have a legal advisory group filled with attorneys who consult. They are generally younger and willing to take on many different kinds of projects. Our corporate attorneys are older. They've seen the landscape, and decided to go narrow and deep in this one competency.
Same holds for most professions, including mine in consulting. I started at a big firm (Accenture). Now I'm at a specialty firm (Huron). Perhaps later I'll work for Pharma as a specialist in their internal group.
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