Logistician: tasks, training, salary + application
Content
- Logistician tasks
- Logistician training
- You are doing an apprenticeship
- You are completing a degree
- Logistician salary
- Employer: Who is looking for a logistician?
- Logistics jobs: career opportunities + prospects
- Application as a logistician: tips + templates
- Free templates with sample text
Very few people think about how the goods we need find their way to us: Logisticians are responsible for this. Regardless of whether it is a matter of everyday means, furnishings or individual components for manufacturing a product - logisticians ensure the smooth flow of materials. As part of the whole, they ensure that the supply of raw materials as well as the subsequent processing, shipping and transport and finally sales are guaranteed. What you need to know about the logistician job description, what prerequisites are required and what career prospects are open to you ...
Logistician tasks
As a logistician, you are responsible for optimizing the processes within the supply chain. Typically, you will work in one of these four areas:
- procurement
- production
- distribution
- delivery
These areas also include the selection of raw material suppliers, transport, storage, and sales. If you have completed a degree as a Suppy Chain Manager, all of these areas fall into your area of responsibility. As a supply chain manager, you are the all-rounder among logistics specialists. Your tasks include, for example:
- Coordination and further development of the production processes
- Planning and deployment of personnel
- Quality control and assurance
- Cost control
- Handling of customs formalities
- Selection and support of suppliers and service providers
- Securing timely goods transport
- Improvement of packaging
- Detection of sources of error
- Management of the disposal system
- Optimization of operational structures
- Processing of complaints
Logistician jobs
Logistician training
Strictly speaking, logistician is an umbrella term for a number of different professions, all of which are related to logistics, but for which different requirements must be met. As is well known, many roads lead to Rome and so you can become a logistician in two ways:
You are doing an apprenticeship
The following professions lead into logistics:
- Order picker
As such, you process sales orders by assembling the goods according to the order. Training is not even mandatory for this activity, especially since there is no training to become an order picker. It is well suited for lateral entry. - Specialist for warehouse logistics
Often order pickers are trained as warehouse clerks or warehouse logistics specialists. As such, you have completed a three-year dual training course. They are very familiar with the specifics of the transport and storage of certain goods such as perishable food or dangerous goods. - Merchant for forwarding and logistics services
After this three-year training course, you will create cost estimates for customers, calculate freight space and storage capacities for goods that are to be shipped. Regardless of whether it is by truck, train, plane or ship - you ensure that the goods arrive where they belong.
You are completing a degree
In addition, various courses lead to work as a logistician, for example:
- logistics
- Logistics and trade
- Logistics and information management
- Logistics and mobility
- Business administration, focus on logistics
- Business administration, focus on supply chain management
Whether a degree is the right path for you to become a logistics specialist or an apprenticeship depends on two things. On the one hand, you usually need a university entrance qualification, for example a high school diploma, to study. On the other hand, there is the question of personal inclinations and learning methods. An apprenticeship is not only much more practice-oriented and therefore more suitable for everyday use. A degree requires the will and the inclination to acquire (often theory-heavy) knowledge. A dual course of study can be a solution.
Logistician salary
The salary of a logistician is influenced by several factors:
- graduation
- work experience
- Branch
- position
- region
- Company size
What a logistician earns cannot be said in general terms, as it depends on the specific training and the above factors - fluctuations between 2,100 (e.g. as a dispatcher) and 7,200 euros are not uncommon. Anyone who decides to train as a forwarding agent can expect apprenticeship remuneration in this amount:
On the other hand, if you have a degree in business administration, a career start as a trainee is likely. Annual salaries in entry-level positions are usually not generous, but in logistics it can be up to 40,900 euros gross per year. On the other hand, there is an annual starting salary of less than 22,000 euros gross for a warehouse logistics specialist. However, financial advancement is not only possible with a degree, as the salary comparison shows:
In the private sector, your earning potential depends always also depends on personal negotiating skills. If, on the other hand, you start working as a logistician at a company with a collective agreement, you can see fairly clearly what salaries are paid based on pay groups. For example, you can expect a gross monthly amount of 2,990 to 3,442 euros, according to the Bavarian State Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs, Family and Integration.
Employer: Who is looking for a logistician?
Logisticians work in freight forwarding and logistics companies or in the logistics departments of companies. The chances and prospects as a logistician are good. Not least because of a globalized world, experts are required to keep track of trade and transport. These industries are proving to be lucrative:
- Medical technology
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Law
- Business consulting
- Auditing
Logistics jobs: career opportunities + prospects
It is crucial to stay open-minded and up-to-date when it comes to technical innovations, for example in logistics, transport logistics, warehouse management or controlling. Drones, robotics and artificial intelligence are already in use. The development opportunities after your apprenticeship or degree are diverse and depend on your previous knowledge. Those who first completed an apprenticeship usually have the opportunity to start studying without a high school diploma after a few years of professional experience.
Usually increase with graduation (and corresponding area of application) also the salaries. Anyone who has already completed a degree - for example in business administration - can specialize in certain activities within a company. Many business graduates are also employed in human resources. However, adaptation and advancement training courses are also possible, for example for:
- Logistics master
- Business economist (technical college) logistics
- Specialist in logistics systems
Application as a logistician: tips + templates
Depending on the job profile, you should have completed relevant training or a university degree. In terms of structure and design, an application as a logistician follows the same criteria as any other. This means that you need a cover letter, résumé and references for a complete application.
Your application now depends on that you develop the necessary skills and knowledge. Soft skills that are particularly in demand are difficult to prove with certificates. Here you have to fall back on appropriate situations with which you can prove your competencies. The skills required by a logistician include:
- Organizational talent
- Communication skills
- Leadership
- Controlling
- calculation
- Analytical skills
- Mathematical understanding
- Technical understanding
- Solution orientation
- Good knowledge of German and English
And this is how suitable formulations could look:
From an early age, my focus was on an international activity, which is why I decided to practically underpin my business English with an internship abroad in the USA.
Or:
For me, leadership isn't just a label. In my three-year role as captain of the local American football team, I learned to deal with a wide variety of characters.
Free templates with sample text
Benefit from our free templates to the application letter. You can download these individually as a Word file by clicking on "Cover letter", "Cover sheet" or "CV" - or as a complete application set by clicking on the preview image. You will then receive all three Word templates combined in one zip file.
➠ Template / sample: cover letter, cover sheet, curriculum vitae
Use our other professional designs and free application templates to apply. More than 120 professional templates for CV, cover letter and cover sheet as WORD files including sample texts can be found here:
To the application templates
Back to the overview of job profiles
