DC Velocity - April 2013

specialreport SALARY SURVEY

with the level of education. Historically, though, even high school graduates who climb to management positions do quite well. That group reports an average salary of just under $88,000. (See Exhibit 3.)

International experience is another must for anyone looking to work at a large corporation, MacEachern says. “Global experience is a given for almost every assignment we undertake. If you don’t have exposure and experience working in Asia, China—it’s tough to move from a purely domestic role into a global role,” he says.

MacEachern says that professionals with an engineering background are in particular demand. “A lot of them go into engineering, then move into the supply chain,” he says.

In addition, he urges young professionals with ambitions for a career in supply chain management to spend some time in a manufacturing environment. “If we’re building the perfect supply chain executive, you’d almost always like to see somebody that’s had manufacturing experience,” he says. “Manufacturing has now gotten to the point that everybody’s engaged in pretty sophisticated continuous improvement programs—lean, Six Sigma. You get great training from a technical perspective. Moving into leading a production organization, leading an hourly group, is a great way to start a career. You could be 25 years old managing a hundred people who are all older than you. It’s a great experience.

“If you decide procurement is your profession of choice,
do you need manufacturing experience? No. But manufac-
turing keeps it wide open for you. A lot of companies want
to see manufacturing in the background.”
MacEachern suggests that young professionals pursue
work with companies noted for their training and develop-
ment programs. “If you can get in on the ground floor of
one of the Fortune 200 or Fortune 300 organizations that
have training and development programs, you really are
going to give yourself a leg up,” he says. “You probably need
to make a couple of moves early on to make sure you’re get-
ting into the right company. And if you have landed in the
right organization, then do your best to move across func-
tional roles. If you’re in procurement, move over to ops,
move into planning, move into distribution, into trans-
portation. Get some diversity early on. It becomes a little
tougher as you get older.”
MacEachern admits today’s job prospects are bleak for
those starting out. But he remains confident in the future of
the profession. He says opportunities for logistics and sup-
ply chain professionals will only expand as more companies
realize they need to improve suboptimal supply chains in
order to compete in the future.

In addition, the rapid growth of online commerce demands responsive and efficient supply chains—and the professionals to run them, MacEachern says.

“One of the biggest trends we’re seeing is [an uptick in hiring] in the business-to-consumer world,” he says. “We’re

EXHIBIT 4

Salary by region

Region

New England West South Midwest Southeast Middle Atlantic

Average
salary 2013

$103,818

$110,027

$114,864

$105,905

$116,403

$114,096

EXHIBIT 5

Salary by years of experience

Years in logistics

0– 5

6–10

11–15

16–20

21–25

More than 25

Average
salary 2013

$78,095

$91,035

$101,298

$106,622

$114,112

$126,005

Median
salary 2013*

$73,500

$75,000

$88,000

$90,500

$95,500

$101,000

*The median represents the midpoint of a set of numbers; that is, half the numbers have values that are greater than the median, and half have values that are less. We have included the median here because it’s less likely than the average to be skewed by extremes at either end of the scale.

seeing a lot of activity over how to manage the back office. For brick and mortar retailers, most of the growth is coming online. There will be a lot of opportunities for people coming out of master’s or undergrad programs in supply chain and logistics.” ;