The landscape and dynamics when interviewing commercial freight forwarding candidates has changed globally. RJM has published multiple articles in 2024 sharing the message of talent scarcity in the arena of commercial freight forwarding talent. Identifying and attracting talent has become challenging not just because there are so many more roles and specialisations compared to 5 or 10 years ago and certainly before this era mainly due to the impact of technology. But also, a more recent trend is quite simple, sales hunters and commercial people operating in the freight forwarding arena want to try something different. Many of these candidates love the industry but are interested to change their function, progress and develop into senior management roles where they can manage multiple departments. Hiring companies can consider designing a role that will match the career aspirations of a qualified candidate. But in general, hiring companies need to be on top of their interviewing game when attempting to attract the right commercial professionals into their business. Supply and demand of such candidates is heavily weighted towards the later and unfortunately super light with the former. Hiring companies should consider and be prepared to speak about the following:
Your companies USPs
Candidates need to be attracted, the best qualified candidates have many career options. So why should they choose your company to invest their career? What are your companies Unique Selling Points (USPs) and are they in alignment with the candidate? Be prepared to speak about them concisely
Company Culture
A description of your companies culture should be shared in several words, bullet points or a short paragraph. To be effective and put this description into context, the best interviewers are able to give real life examples that represent what their culture is about.
General supply chain competence
What is your supply chain competency core strengths and in some cases weakness? Does this portfolio of supply chain competency match the candidate's potential customer portfolio?Will the hiring company's supply chain competency and product range allow the commercial candidate to sell to their existing and future customers? What could potentially be the candidates power of decision making? This is what candidates want to discuss and learn about before being asked how much revenue can they contribute!
Performance Expectations
Once USPs, culture and supply chain competence has been discussed performance expectations can be laid out. Sales cycle durations, expected activity ,targets, work/office ratio and flexibility, database compliance etc are a few examples of what is expected regarding performance.
AND LASTLY...
Who is conducting your first round interview?
Are they qualified and able to take care of presenting the above information? Do they have the presence and skill to engage your candidate targets? At RJM our best clients have their senior people taking a hands on approach towards recruitment and interviewing from the beginning not end. They lead the way and as result attract the right people. What they don't do is just show up at final interview stage to say a quick hello , they are central to the interview process from 1st round .. if your company isn't interviewing in a similar fashion , with the competitiveness for attracting top talent being at an all time high, you should reconsider your strategy
Speaking about the above directly and accurately will create good interview synergy with your candidate target. It is their personalities, character , industry experience and skillsets that you need not the other way around so be humble. If the above points described in the interview are consistent this will contribute towards a positive employment brand and allow the hiring company to continue to identify, attract and retain the best talent the market has to offer. How is your interviewing with commercial freight forward talent going? Free to discuss? Reach out to Robert Founder RJM - rjmaguire@rjm-associates.com
Comments