Key Attributes Shipping, Receiving, And Traffic Clerks Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Michael Davis

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks verify and maintain records on incoming and outgoing shipments. Prepare items for shipment. Duties include assembling, addressing, stamping, and shipping merchandise or material; receiving, unpacking, verifying and recording incoming merchandise or material; and arranging for the transportation of products.

The core tasks that shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks are likely to carry out include:

Examine contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy of incoming or outgoing shipment.
Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.
Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.
Determine shipping method for materials, using knowledge of shipping procedures, routes, and rates.
Deliver or route materials to departments, using work devices, such as handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins.
Pack, seal, label, and affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using work devices such as hand tools, power tools, and postage meter.

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 shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks 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 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: 90.43%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.4%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.6%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80%