Navigating New Roads: IT Staffing Strategies for Transportation and Logistics

Technology advances in the transportation and logistics industry have improved  reliability and efficiency. Smart technologies are changing the way goods are transported once they are manufactured, leading to increased IT staffing roles in logistics and transportation. 

Much of the transportation and logistics industry now relies on technology to plan and execute a complex system for supplying our entire country’s needs. That applies to day-to-day items like groceries and gasoline, as well as long-term needs such as construction equipment or medical supplies.

Finding qualified IT staff for the transportation industry can be a challenge, given the specialized skills needed and the rapid pace of technological advances. It’s important to have effective staffing and recruiting strategies to make sure these important roles are filled.

Strategic IT Staffing Solutions for Logistics

Finding top IT staff in logistics requires effective strategies to overcome staffing shortages and find talent with the specialized skills your company needs. One of these strategies is to build flexible teams with overlapping skill sets that can give your company the diverse experience it needs. Flexibility is always needed in logistics, and there can often be more than one way to structure a team effectively. 

Another effective sourcing strategy is to use partnerships with colleges and technical schools. Most college career centers are thrilled to work with your company to set up internships or mentoring relationships leading to new hires. One of the best things about such programs is the ability to experience a candidate’s work habits and approach to the job before hiring them, which usually leads to better quality hires.                                                                                                                                                           

Due to the complexity of today’s hiring processes, many companies now outsource the hiring process to a staffing and recruiting firm. Companies like GDH have unique expertise and talent pipelines full of ready-to-go candidates for a faster and easier hiring process. Not only does outsourcing recruiting give companies access to the best hiring practices and a much larger pool of candidates, but it can be more cost-effective too.

Attracting and Retaining Top IT Talent

Getting top talent isn’t as easy as just finding employees. Making your company and its IT transportation positions attractive is critically important in today’s competitive talent market. If workers don’t see your job as better than others in some way, they won’t be interested in coming on board.  

One way to attract top talent is to showcase your company’s efforts toward innovation, giving potential staff the opportunity to be innovators themselves and to work with a company that values innovation. Innovation can come in the form of new skills, but it can also be the way a company streamlines its processes or handles new projects that come along. 

Salary and benefits need to be competitive, along with a positive work environment and culture. Continuous learning and professional development are other aspects of a job that can be attractive for many workers. If your company works to create a positive environment that values employees and meets their needs, word will get around and your attractiveness as a company will grow.

Technological Advancements in Logistics

It used to be that a truck and driver would pick up a load and not be heard from again until the load was dropped off. Before cell phones and the internet, there was really no way to keep in contact, report a problem, or get updated instructions when conditions changed during the trip. Those days are gone forever with technological advancements like autonomous vehicles, IoT, and smart logistics. 

Now, trucks can be tracked with GPS, connected to a larger framework of drivers, and in some cases, go from pickup to delivery without even needing a driver. Technology has begun to automate both the transportation and logistics sectors, but IT staff are needed to create and oversee the automation process. 

Some of the new IT transportation and logistics positions created by these advances include the following:

• Data Analytics Specialist
• Logistics Engineer
• Operations Systems Analyst
• Scheduler/Master Scheduler
• Logistics Technician
• Logistics Data Architect

These positions do everything from using software to schedule and track inventory and deliveries to creating the software and systems, then collecting data and analyzing it to measure efficiency. 

Another advantage of these advancements is the use of predictive technologies to schedule maintenance and downtime for vehicles, instead of waiting for them to break down, causing potential delivery delays, preventable accidents, or even ruined merchandise. 

 As technological advances continue at a rapid pace in many industries including technology and logistics, demand for staff will continue to grow at an accelerated pace. Using strategies that include flexible teams, partnerships, and competitive benefits will give you the best chance to hire the IT logistics and technology staff you need right now.

In addition, it can also be advantageous to outsource some or all of your hiring for tech jobs in these fields in order to gain access to top talent, especially in hard-to-staff positions. GDH wants to put its proprietary methods and talent sourcing strategies to work helping transportation and logistics companies find the IT talent they need.