20 Key Attributes Logisticians Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Ava Rodriguez

Monday, September 7, 2015

Logisticians analyze and coordinate the logistical functions of a firm or organization. Responsible for the entire life cycle of a product, including acquisition, distribution, internal allocation, delivery, and final disposal of resources.

The core tasks that logisticians are likely to carry out include:

Maintain and develop positive business relationships with a customer's key personnel involved in or directly relevant to a logistics activity.
Develop an understanding of customers' needs and take actions to ensure that such needs are met.
Direct availability and allocation of materials, supplies, and finished products.
Collaborate with other departments as necessary to meet customer requirements, to take advantage of sales opportunities or, in the case of shortages, to minimize negative impacts on a business.
Protect and control proprietary materials.
Review logistics performance with customers against targets, benchmarks and service agreements.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that logisticians would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for enterprising work environments. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.4%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.8%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90.8%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.4%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 87%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.8%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.6%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 84.6%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.4%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.4%

Creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.4%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.2%

Having a strong preference for conventional work environments. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 81%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 80.4%

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%