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Dear Friends ,
This post is in continuation to my earlier tutorial on the Best Practices: How to write an effective CV / Resume for India . The post got around 2000 views from more than 16 countries. Getting your CV right is the first step towards your job search . A good cv helps you get the coveted interview call.
A lot of the readers came back to me and wanted to know what all questions can be asked in an interview for logistics , operations and supply chain related jobs . They also wanted to know where all can they apply for jobs related to operations , logistics , supply chain, etc . I have tried to some of the questions that I generally ask during interviews and some of the questions that I have encountered during my career . These are mostly specific to surface logistics . I have segregated the same into three parts : fresher , Sales & Operations .
After these questions I have share the links to a pretty comprehensive list of career and job sites for top logistics companies in India . It’s advisable that one should apply via the company sites wherever possible . I have also shared a list of links to specific areas of job sites for such roles . Its my humble attempt to help you all with whatever limited knowledge I have accumulated across the years. Please feel free to share feedback and inputs that can be added to this post to make it better and beneficial for the readers . Thank you .
Sample Questions & traits : fresher
- Mostly CV specific . Gauge overall attitude and technical skill set
- Sales pitch / operations case study
- Industry overview : Did they read any reports about the industries
- Awareness about top logistics companies
- Certifications : SCM Pro / Six Sigma etc
- Awards and honors
- Analytical and excel skills
- Did they talk to some of the people in the company ?
- Did they visit the company website ?
- What did they get to know about the company ? The USP / regions / founder and top management ?
- Did they go thru the profile of existing employees ? The ones who joined as fresher in the earlier years ?
- Awareness about other logistics companies
- Reason for joining an Industry / role which is less glamorous and more hands on ?
- Any relevant live projects
- Specialization and key relevant academic projects
- Relevant course work
- Examples of SCM in college life / functions / events etc
- Did the candidate look into the profile of the interviewer ?
- Idols : Personal and professional
- Hobbies & Unique points
- Papers published / Competitions participated / won
- Funnel thinking
- Guesstimates and case studies
- Books they read
- Key SCM tools / softwares used if any .
Sample Questions & traits : Logistics Sales Profiles
- Previous companies details
- Focus area PTL ( Part Truck Load ) , FTL ( Full Truck Load) , DV ( Dedicated Vehicles / Leased Vehicles ) & warehousing
- Job role : KAM ( Key Account Manager , Inside Sales , Business Development )
- Key Industries served along with top clients
- Top clients along with breakup of revenue
- Total sales funnel or prospect list
- Total revenue : Breakup PTL , FTL, DV & Warehousing
- Average Gross margin / contribution / yield
- Names of client decision makers to verify authenticity
- Regions served , Regional snapshot along with key challenges faced
- Average Payment terms & daily outstanding maintained
- Client on boarding terms and conditions
- Liability clauses in contracts of their clients
- Vehicle types knowledge : Size / Volume
- Key routes freight cost
- PTL key terms and conditions / CFT etc
- Bidding Platforms used
- Logistics management softwares used ( Internal or external )
- Excel skills ( Vlookup , Pivot etc )
- Presentation Skills
- Operations knowledge ( Working )
- Insurance clauses
- Top competitors along with market share
- Reasons for leaving
- Compensation : Breakup of Fixed and variable
- Esops if any
- Reporting manager
- References general and in my company
- Company knowledge ( Where applied )
- Communication skills
- Case study
- Existing company pitch to me . Considering me a client.
- CV : How well written ?
- Region / Industry specific knowledge depending upon the role
- Company changing frequency
- Certifications / trainings undertaken
- Awards and honors : Personal and professional
- Biggest challenges / issue resolved
- Biggest professional achievement
- Key learning from each company worked for
- Best practices from each company worked for
- Worst practices from each company worked for
- Family background
- Reason for applying
- Expected career progression
- Questions about working in a startup environment / operations heavy environment
- The quality of questions asked by candidate
- Average time to convert leads : Leads life cycle and hit rate
- Team management experience
- Data driven / analytical skills
- Ecom / Non Ecom split
- Key Lead sources : How do they generate leads
- Typical day run through of activities undergone
- Cold calling comfort
- How do they calculate potential of client
- How do they gauge clients financial ability to pay in time
- Pricing related basic knowledge
- Unit economics
Sample Questions & traits : Operations Profiles
Most of the questions are operations specific iterations of above mentioned questions .
Sharing few operations specific questions in addition to the above ones
- Vendor base PTL / FTL / DV
- Enhanced Excel / Tableau / Analytics skills for senior profiles
- SCM certifications
- Unit economics
- Detailed vehicle type knowledge
- Case study : Ask to share rates for some live RFQ or existing RFQ
- Calculation of working cost of vehicles per trip
- Regional knowledge and seasonality
- Pilferage / demiurge / detention related questions
- Route planning and vehicle decision factor
- Warehouse location decision factor
- PTL vehicle , route selection and optimization
- How do they calculate rates for long-term contracts
- Risk Purchase
- Industry / Client / regions wise challenges
- Key vendors / transporters and competitors
- POD sensitization . Average lead time to get PODs
- Managing payment delays and getting credit from vendors
- Team management
- Logistics documentation / LR etc key areas to consider
- Biggest costing mistake made
- Vendor identification process / validation and on boarding
- Biggest win wrt optimization
- Jugaad done to cut cost / improve SLA
- SLA sensitivity
- Bidding experience
- Some client connects developed over the years
Some links to find SCM / Operations / Logistics related jobs : New age Startups FTL & PTL
DHL Smart Trucking Careers & Jobs
Stellar Value Chain Careers & Jobs
Some links to find SCM / Operations / Logistics related jobs : New age Startups Intra City Focus
Some links to find SCM / Operations / Logistics related jobs : SAAS Based / GPS
Loadshare Networks Careers & Jobs
Some links to find SCM / Operations / Logistics related jobs : Traditional Logistics Companies
Future Supply Chain Careers & Jobs
Adani Logistics Careers & Jobs
Overnite Express Careers & Jobs
Mahindra Logistics Careers & Jobs
All Cargo Logistics Careers & Jobs
Some links to find SCM / Operations / Logistics related jobs : Job Portals
Naukri Operations SCM Logistics Jobs
Linkedin Operations SCM Logistics Jobs
Monstor India Operations SCM Logistics Jobs
Michael Page Operations SCM Logistics Jobs
