Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Talking to Students About Supply Chain Careers


Last week I was invited to speak to the APICS student chapter at Farmingdale State College.  It’s always great to talk to an audience of budding supply chain professionals, and I let them know they are entering a great field.   Even in these challenging economic times, they have skills that are in demand and they have bright futures ahead of them.  Manufacturing and Distribution companies hire a lot of supply chain talent – even in tough times.

As I typically do with an audience like this, I described my career journey in Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management and Analytics, peppered with some real-life examples.  I also shared some lessons-learned for career-management.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but a few things to remind yourself of periodically…

  1. You have a long career ahead of you.  Try different things.  Do what you enjoy.  Don’t chase money.   If you do what you enjoy and are good at, the rewards will come.

  2. Make an impact.  Apply what you learn in school and on the job.  Tie ideas back to a business case – how will you make the company more profitable?

  3. Look out for #1.  Don’t expect someone else to manage your career.  Nobody cares about it more than you do.  Keep developing and learning.
Nothing earth-shattering here, but it’s amazing how often people (myself included!) don’t consistently adhere to these relatively simple concepts. 

I have posted the entire presentation at on the Resources page at REanalyzeinc.com - click here.  It includes a bunch of project examples and some lessons-learned that are more functionally-oriented (as opposed to career-oriented).

What are your most important career-management lessons? 

Until next time…

Rob
_________________________________________________________________
Rob Ende is Founder and President of REanalyze Inc., a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long Island, New York.  Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or rende@reanalyzeinc.com.

© 2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.