Why Shipping and Logistics Is the Ideal Sector for Young People to Build a Stable, Prosperous and Rewarding Career
Ask any 16-24-year-old what career they’d like in the future, and you’ll run the gamut of answers. Some teenagers will reply with a casual shrug of the shoulders, unsure of their aspirations, their purpose. The job they want. Others may launch into their passion for social justice and reform and desire to work to make a difference.
What’s clear is that certain jobs and sectors are highly desirable amongst the younger generation. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily the best option for everyone. Especially in a time of economic uncertainty and the intense competition within some professions.
Look at it this way: it’s great if you want to become a barrister, a columnist, an influencer, a video game designer. But there are challenges. Few people make it. Regardless of their education, talent, aptitude or determination.
What’s stopping you forging a career in stable, blossoming sector, like shipping and logistics? One with clear career progression. Great opportunity for personal and professional growth. Where vacancies are plentiful. Jobs diverse. Career satisfaction apparent. One with stability. One that’s rewarding.
The ‘Pandemic Effect’
A report published by Manchester Metropolitan University in 2022 was clear that Covid-19 exacerbated existing concerns young people had about their job market prospects. It caused the labour market to contract. For talk of recession to creep into economic and political conversations. For priorities amongst Millennials and especially Gen Z to be reassessed.
Between February 2020 and August 2021, it was reported that people between the ages of 16-24 accounted for 46% of the total fall in employment. 425,000 jobs were lost. Many of these in industries like hospitality and leisure – industries heavy with young people.
Now this was two years ago plus. But the effects of lockdowns, of hiring freezes, of WFH policies and streamlining workforce numbers are still being felt today. Recovery has been slow.
Uncertainty has given rise to a new phenomenon – job hopping. Many young people are less concerned with loyalty and the length of service on their CVs and more concerned with grabbing opportunities. Conversely, some young people take the opposite approach. They stay put in one job, in one sector far longer than they’d like to. They don’t want to take a risk, especially with sheer cost of living.
But for those young people willing to listen to and grab opportunities, there’s one sector that offers much of what they’re looking for… and many don’t even know it – the shipping and logistics sector.
Generation Logistics
The UK is serious about getting more young people into the logistics sector. Launched in August 2022 and sponsored by the Department of Transport, Generation Logistics is a scheme designed to help the next generation of talent to carve out a career in the sector.
It might be amazing to hear but 90% of the UK population has never considered working in the logistics sector. If you think that statistic shocking, then get this: the logistics sector employs 2.6 million people across the UK. Somewhere along the line there’s a disconnect in communication. A lack of knowledge.
This is something that Generation Logistics is tackling. The scheme highlights why young people should consider a career in shipping and logistics, even if they haven’t before. It smashes some of the myths like supply chain management is boring or automation is on the cusp of taking people’s jobs away. Generation Logistics is giving something valuable to young people – opportunity!
Port One Logistics Park
The most centrally located customs site in the entire Freeport East Zone, Port One Logistics Park is located next to Britain’s largest container port, Felixstowe.
The facility offers VNA high-density modern warehousing over nine floors. This multi-level marshalling area offers bespoke storage solutions, maximising available square footage with its unique cubed designs. The premises handles handling 60% of the UK’s trade with Asia and connects UK businesses with more than 165 countries in the EU and beyond.
As you can imagine, Port One Logistics Park is at the cutting edge of the logistics sector, the right place to be to carve out a career, and example of an industry with an infrastructure that’s received much investment, even as some industries seem to have plateaued.
If anyone even says that the shipping and logistics sector is old-fashioned, behind the times, even lacking in innovation, you need only reply with Port One Logistics Park. It offers young people a chance to work in a facility at the cutting edge of innovation. How many people can say that?
The eCommerce Sector
According to Statista 80% of the UK population shops online. * A percentage that’s risen and risen over the last two decades. It’s estimated that by the year 2025, that figure will rise to 90%. *
Just as how we buy goods has evolved, so too have supply chains. The eCommerce sector cannot function without smooth shipping and transportation, warehouse and storage facilities and delivery drivers. Industry verticals – and by extension – markets cannot function without logistics.
Then there’s the psychology of online shopping. What consumers expect in 2023. We’re talking about online tracking. Next day delivery. The benefits and incentives to shopping online. Customers won’t want to give these up. The eCommerce sector is stable, strong. So too is the infrastructure to keep it operating – the shipping and logistics sector.
This basically means that shipping and logistics is basically future proof. Whether young people prefer working as a forklift driver, a freight forwarder or the head of client services, rest assured that a job in the shipping and logistics sector is a secure one.
To say that the shipping and logistics sector has seen massive growth, thanks to the explosion of eCommerce in the last two decades is an understatement. For young people looking for a stable, prosperous and rewarding career – one where achievement and progression can be found in abundance – there are few better opportunities that those found in the shipping and logistics sector.
Diversity and Inclusion
Shipping and logistics may have typically been a male dominated sector. But times are changing. Women are increasingly occupying positions in all areas of the sector.
Modern technology and machinery to move heavy goods means that there’s less emphasis on hiring men to work in the warehouse, for instance. More and more women are achieving managerial positions in logistics and shipping companies thanks to the unique capabilities they demonstrate.
An inclusive workplace, one that embraces people of all ages, cultural backgrounds and religions is one that attracts the younger generation, exemplifies tolerance, and, most importantly, benefits from the skills and experience of a diverse group of people.
The Door to International Business
65% of Generation Z ranked ‘travel and seeing the world’ as the most important way to spend their money. It’s safe to assume that if most young people got the opportunity to travel whilst earning a living, they’d take it.
But what if you could secure a prosperous career and have the opportunity to travel? Sounds like the ideal outcome for young people, right?
Shipping and logistics will open the door to working abroad. Temporary or permanent relocation isn’t out of the question. Seeing a different part of the world, absorbing yourself in a different culture, enjoying new experiences even learning a new language aren’t out of the question for anyone with a career in the shipping and logistics industry.
Build a Stable, Prosperous and Rewarding Career Today
Knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at 16-24 isn’t easy. Choosing the wrong path will make your life decidedly more difficult. Before you know where you are, you’re five, ten, fifteen years into a career you don’t like.
The good thing about being young is you have choices. You owe it to yourself to explore your options. To figure out your priorities and choose a path to suit you.
A career in in the shipping and logistics sector is a great way for young people to build a stable, prosperous and rewarding career. You have a choice of roles. Don’t need to spend years in education. Benefit from the stability of the industry. Have opportunities to progress your career. Even travel the globe.
Interested in learning more about roles in the shipping and logistics sector? Get in touch with LME TODAY.
Resources:
https://www.statista.com/topics/7887/online-shopping-behavior-in-the-uk/#topicOverview
