Author: RodApple
How to Transition Military Supply Chain Skills into the Civilian Sector
The transition for military candidates into civilian jobs can be an arduous process. Luckily, there are plenty of great resources available to assist with learning the civilian lingo and translating one’s military supply chain experience into the civilian sector. Included below are some tips and specialized resources to assist with learning the civilian supply chain lingo and shortening the transition from a career in the military to a civilian supply chain career. Network with Ex-Military Supply Chain Professionals A great tactic is to connect with civilian supply chain professionals who have served in the military before. Utilize online resources [...]
9 Steps in Evaluating a Job Offer
During a job search, it’s common to spend weeks or even months researching career opportunities, sending out resumes and going on interviews. When you finally receive a viable job offer, there are typically feelings of anxiety when it comes to evaluating the opportunity and especially negotiating and making a final decision. How will you evaluate the job offer in supply chain discipline and if necessary, counter and negotiate? In the excitement of receiving an offer, don’t forget to use sound judgment because accepting a new job with a new company can and typically is a “life-changing event”. Here [...]
Attract Supply Chain Employers By Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles
In today’s technologically advanced world, many recruiters spend as much time searching social media platforms like LinkedIn as they do utilize job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder to find qualified individuals for their supply chain job openings. You can attract supply chain employers through optimizing your social media profiles. Having a strong presence on as many platforms as possible will increase your chances of being discovered on a supply chain recruiter’s next search. When using Social Media for professional networking, it’s important to represent yourself with a consistent “brand.” Before you get started with optimizing your profile, here a [...]
Six Steps to Build an Employee Referral Program For Your Supply Chain Organization
A proven way to improve the quality and quantity of your applicant flow is to create an employee referral program for your supply chain organization. According to Dr. John Sullivan, an international HR thought leader, 88% of employers claim that referrals are the #1 source for hiring above-average candidates. A recent report by ERE found that after one year, retention of referred employees is 46% compared to 33% from career sites and 22% from job boards. On average, it only takes 5 referrals to make a hire, as with a job board it can take hundreds of applicants. Referral [...]
Key Steps for Developing a Supply Chain Employer Branding Strategy
To keep up with hiring demands in a tightening labor market, it’s important to deploy creative marketing and employer branding strategies to help attract the right talent to your supply chain organization. Here are our top tips for developing or optimizing a supply chain employer branding strategy. Unify the Brand of Your Organization You’ll want to create career branding materials that accurately highlight your organization, culture, history, career paths and especially the benefits of working for your company and its supply chain organization. Many organizations neglect how important it is to have a consistent brand image across the entire [...]
Turn Your Supply Chain Organization into Talent Scouts
Looking to make the most of out of your association dues? Many organizations undervalue the importance of joining Supply Chain associations. Supply chain associations, such as APICS or CSCMP, can be a goldmine for finding supply chain talent, building brand awareness, and serving as a continuous educational source for your employees. To use associations and events to your advantage, consider using these simple techniques: Before the Event: Pay Supply Chain Association Fees and Conference Expenses for Employees You should consider paying supply chain association membership dues for your employees and encourage them to participate in local chapter meetings as [...]
APICS Career Coach Webinar: Becoming a Better Supply Chain Networker
Learning to become a strong networker is critical for accelerating your career in supply chain. Unfortunately, many supply chain professionals don't understand the benefits associated with networking and only do so when they're in job search mode. Others are intimidated by the sheer thought of reaching out to strangers to network and strike up a conversation. Check out “Becoming a Better Supply Chain Networker” presented by APICS Career Coach and SCM Talent Group President Rodney Apple, and leave with more confidence in your own ability to network. In this webinar, you will learn: The importance [...]
Webinar: 10 Strategies to Hire & Retain Supply Chain Talent
Hiring in the supply chain discipline can be extremely challenging as the field continues to evolve and not enough experienced talent is coming up the ranks to replace retiring baby boomers, hence the supply chain talent gap. Luckily there are several low cost, high yield solutions that any employer can implement to improve their ability to hire and retain supply chain talent. SCM Talent Group conducted a webinar on “10 Strategies to Hire & Retain Supply Chain Talent”, presented by Rodney Apple that provides attendees the opportunity to dive deeper into the 10 part series on Supply Chain [...]
Right-Size Your Supply Chain Recruiting Team
Having worked on the corporate side of supply chain recruiting for half of my 23-year career in recruitment, which includes leading supply chain recruitment for major corporations such as The Home Depot, Kimberly-Clark, The Coca-Cola Company and Cummins, I have seen my fair share of supply chain recruiting team's talent acquisition programs that have ranged from good to great to poor. The most successful employers understand how to right-size their talent acquisition departments to allow for a proactive recruiting function versus a reactive, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” function. They also view their recruiting departments as a strategic, [...]
Streamline Your Supply Chain Hiring Process
Is your supply chain organization suffering because your hiring process moves at the speed of molasses in January? Are your candidates dropping like flies because you’re requiring them to go through too many rounds of onsite interviews? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then it’s time to focus on optimizing your supply chain hiring process, as hiring within the supply chain management discipline is predicted to become more challenging in the years to come. To stay on top of your hiring demands, it’s imperative that you focus on doing whatever it takes to remove bottlenecks that [...]
