LM's Salary Survey: Break out of the rut

By Michael A. Levans, Chief Editor -- Logistics Management, 3/1/2007

What’s more intriguing than finding out how much cash your peers are pulling in? According to my Web-traffic metrics, there’s absolutely nothing more interesting to logistics and supply chain managers. As a matter of fact, last year’s Salary Survey feature overtook our heralded Logistics Rate Outlook as the most-read article of 2006 on our site.

This surge in interest in our annual salary survey and comparative career-experience data could be attributed to the forces that are putting the squeeze on today’s logistics professionals. Our research over the past four years has revealed that logistics and supply chain professionals are seeing more responsibilities being dumped on their desks due to company and department “streamlining.” And while they were figuring out how to juggle these new tasks, logistics pros have been facing some of the toughest day-to-day operational and budgeting challenges the market has ever seen.

With two or three more job responsibilities, a challenging transportation environment, and increased accountability to upper management, shippers were starting to feel the walls close in. Add the fact that the average logistics salary level has stagnated, and we’ll begin to see a group of professionals looking desperately for ways to grow their careers.

If you think it’s time to step up and take control of your career path, your first step is to digest the details of Logistics Management’s 23rd Annual Salary Survey, which begins on Page 24. Senior Editor Jeff Berman has done a terrific job of putting the data into perspective. Berman points out that a new question in this year’s survey regarding respondents’ supply chain-specific education gives us some fresh insight on continuing education. He reports: “Respondents with an undergraduate degree in either logistics or supply chain management earned an average salary of $79,635, essentially the same as the average for all survey takers with an undergraduate degree. However, respondents with a graduate degree in either logistics or supply chain management earned an impressive $95,560 on average … Respondents having a professional certification — such as those conferred by AST&L or APICS — resulted in an average salary of $93,250.”

Give this month’s cover story a read, and then get ready to join me; Jeff Berman; Don Firth, president/CEO of JobsInLogistics.com; and Don Jacobson, president of career consultancy LogiPros, for a live Salary Survey webcast on Thursday, March 22. We’ll help you assess your worth, manage a multi-pronged job search, and chart the proper path to making continuing education choices. We’ll also offer tips and tricks for creating a powerful resume that will resonate with the world’s top employers. Register at www.logisticsmgmt.com/salary07, and bring your questions.

Comments? E-mail me at michael.levans@reedbusiness.com