Warehousing and Logistics jobs are often considered to sit hand in hand, dealing with moving raw materials or stock to businesses who then process, store or use them in a manufacturing process before moving them on to resellers and the end-user who in turn have warehousing facilities. This can lead to roles such as Warehouse Manager & Logistics Manager meaning the same or very different things depending on the company hiring them, and their specific operational set ups.
At smaller businesses they often can be almost the same as the duties for each do not take enough time to require different roles, yet in reality the difference between Warehousing and Logistics at larger organisations are quite stark, though the roles are often crucial to one another and in most cases interlinked.
In some cases both can fall under the same role title such as Head of Warehouse or Head of Logistics, with either of these overseeing all the internal elements in that area. Alternatively those in these roles may find themselves working with a stable of external suppliers to complete the aspects of the role they don’t have the capacity for, so part of their role will involve tenders, selection, quality control, and performance review. Larger organisations will have Heads for each element, with transport, logistics and warehousing roles all sitting within a wider supply chain function.
Warehousing in its purest form is more generally used for the movement and storage of goods internally, and their subsequent distribution to either trade or consumer end users within the manufacturing, wholesale, retailer and consumer sectors. Senior members of the warehousing team will often manage the pick and pack teams, forklift drivers, and employees working within the warehouse infrastructure.
In their purest form, in-house logistics jobs are focussed on the inbound movement of raw materials or stock and then the outbound distributing of the product to wholesalers, retailers, or the end customer once they have been manufactured, processed or resold. They will often liaise with Third-Party Logistics partners (3PLs) and as such someone working in a Logistics Manager role will undertake the same selection and onboarding process as a Supply Chain Manager would with their external suppliers. In businesses that use their own fleet of vehicles, it’s common for the Logistics Manager to be referred to as a Transport Manager – due to the scale of the enterprise, and that they are working with their own fleet of transport vehicles.
Those working in Logistics roles for Logistics companies – Logistics Service Providers or LSPs – will naturally be on the other side of tendering or selection processes mentioned above – they offer services to other companies, with their aim to fulfill the movement of material and goods in a faster, more efficient way than either the client business itself, or any other Logistics supplier.
Cambridge Talent Partnership have extensive experience as a warehouse and logistics recruiter across Cambridge, Essex, Suffolk, East Anglia, Milton Keynes and the East of England, as well as select clients across the UK. We’ve been tasked with sourcing candidates for many forms of warehouse positions, such as Logistics Executive, Logistics Planner, Warehouse Manager, Transport Manager and Global Head of Logistics. The approach we take for each role is the same, ensuring our clients receive a full market shortlist on every occasion.
Recently filled Warehousing and Logistics vacancies
Logistics Specialist
Cambridgeshire
Retail
£35k
Head of Transport
Essex
Construction
£65k
Warehouse Manager
Hertfordshire
Ecommerce
£45k
Case Study
Warehouse Manager for Online Retailer
As the Covid-19 pandemic hit and consumers across the UK flocked to websites instead of the high-street, this retailer saw a massive surge in sales. With orders piling up, the current internal pick & pack structure started to show flaws, and there were problems making sure they could deliver products to customers on time.
Having grown organically and largely promoting from within, their only existing recruitment partnership was with a ‘commercial’ recruitment agency that they would use to hire seasonal and temporary warehouse staff such as pickers and packers. This agency tried to source the retailer a Warehouse Manager yet it was clear at an early stage they did not understand the intricacies of the role so the management moved to a specialist Logistics Recruitment Agency hoping they could find them somebody from ecommerce.
It was clear from the outset that this specialist agency had experience of all facets of the Logistics and Supply Chain industry. However, as they worked exclusively in this area, their search was hindered by ‘no approach’ deals with the majority of the company’s competitors in ecommerce – in other words, they could not approach people working at these competitor companies. This severely cut down the pool of potential candidates available, and their approach of promoting the role on job boards and social media was less effective than usual as there were so many businesses looking to attract good people to their Warehouse and Logistics departments. When they provided a shortlist the candidates were not at the level needed to solve their problems quickly.
When the client contacted Cambridge Talent Partnership, we were able to take the time to understand exactly what experience and skills the company needed, and the kind of person they thought would fit the role. Despite the specialist agency’s experience in the field, they had also failed to really get to terms with what the role required. As we delved into the brief with various parties at the client company, we realised that the agency had failed to appreciate how important extensive experience working with Amazon was outside of more generic ecommerce exposure. With the invaluable groundwork finished, we were then able to proceed to finding and engaging the available talent.
Rather than trying to yell louder than all the other agencies recruiting for similar roles on job boards and social, we took the route of doing a market-map of available talent in the area local to the client, before sharing the profiles of a range of individuals who could fit the bill. The client then identified those candidates they felt were strongest, and we made an approach to them. Within two weeks an offer had been made to a candidate who had been working for a large competitor locally – the role we approached about was a step up for him, and on the flip-side he brought knowledge from a larger operator that was invaluable in the manic environment Covid had created. Over a year on the candidate is still with the company.