1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
GOOD INTENTIONS AREN'T ENOUGH
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The road transport industry has long been in need of a higher recruitment and career profile. We constantly rehearse our lines about driver shortages so on paper, at least, Skills for Logistics is an essential tool for road transport with the potential to raise public awareness and set in place programmes to professionalise' the industry. With this in mind it disturbing to find that 70% of our survey panel didn't feel it had achieved anything (see pages 52-53). And to be honest we can't blame them. Skills for Logistics has spent a lot of time developing a professional stairway which outlines the steps up the corporate logistics ladder. This kind of career ladder might well be of use in the large companies, but small operators have many employees who see themselves as career drivers; they are quite able to manage the natural transition of the few who want to move from the cab to the office. So that professional stairway is really aimed at the larger logistics providers who already have well developed career paths, usually brokered by their HR departments. Intact, if you ask the Wincantons of this world what skills they look for in their people the most common answer is "languages".
Which raises the question, who does Skills for Logistics serve? If the idea is to make logistics careers more interesting to young people, we have to ask, where do they hear about it? As an industry there's still work to be done in getting the word out to schools and colleges that logistics is a rewarding career. We are reluctant to criticise a project that in principle and motivation is excellent. But after two years with Sector Skills Council status little has actually been achieved.
The Young LGV Driver Scheme has helped some recruits, but it will soon be rendered obsolete by the Compulsory Training Directive. In the CM/Michelin survey no less than 58% of operators said they couldn't attract young people, so the need is certainly there. But it a training council is to work it needs credibility with the industry it serves. Above all ft needs to understand what operators want probably free training with minimal downtime. Only then will anything change.
"If a training council is to
succeed it needs credibility with the industry it serves"