News / 'Think outside the box, and outside the industry, for customer-focused staff'

28/04/2017

Freight forwarders looking to develop longer-term relationships with shippers, to provide more innovative supply chain solutions, ought to look at recruiting from outside logistics.

Saskia Groen-in’t-Woud, chief operating officer for Damco in Asia, told this week’s TOC Container Supply Chain conference in Singapore she believed hiring staff from competitors did not ...

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Ricardo Pinhal
April 28, 2017 at 3:50 pm
That’s precisely what a shipper wants on the other side of a screen or telephone, an amazingly nice former starbucks barista!
This lady needs a few more months on the business to fully grasp it…

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Andy Lane
April 28, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Bravo Ma’am. And I truly believe that it is highly relevant for any industry or company.

Hiring from a direct competitor ensures (all things equal) that you hire under-performers or job-hoppers, but not people who will add innovative value to your company in the longer term.

You can see endless recruitment advertisements asking for 5, 10, 20 years of “industry experience”, or academic qualifications from 20 years past, neither of which hold any relevance when it comes to creating truly agile and innovative organisations for future sustainability.

Matching smart and proactive people to the right roles is mutually rewarding, through consciously setting up people for success as opposed to unconsciously setting people up for failure. Those who hire smart will be the winners, it is very refreshing to hear that at least 1 organisation sees the same best way forwards. Go Damco Go.

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