'Employment in the freight forwarding business today requires greater professional skills than at any time in the past. Our industry needs a fresh infusion of young talent if freight forwarding is to grow and prosper.'

So asserts Julian Keeling, CEO at Consolidators International (CII), the Los Angeles-based forwarder/wholesaler who had difficulty in finding new personnel when expanding his company's operations recently.

'While a number of pundits predicted smaller to mid-sized forwarders 'would just disappear' during the past few years of soft air and sea cargo business, the opposite has occurred. There are more registered freight forwarders globally than ever before. More professional help will be required to fill the employment gaps among the 10,000 active forwarders,' said Keeling.

'Operating a forwarding business currently is considerably more complicated than ten or even five years ago.' continued the CII executive. 'We need to find young men and women who will be interested in making forwarding a life long career. We can accomplish this the old fashioned way by having newcomers start on the loading dock or driving a truck. Or youngsters can trod the path of new methods by taking logistic courses at colleges that offer these kinds of classes. A number of colleges give graduate degrees in logistics right up to the Ph.D level,' asserted Keeling.

A degree in logistics may not be the panacea in finding new talent, as many proponents had hoped for, noted the cargo executive. Sharp debates have sprung up about the value of logistic courses as fully fifty per cent of students drop out of these classes. 'Many logistic curriculums stress theory with little practical training,' stated Keeling.

Claims the veteran forwarder, 'the best & brightest of students often are turned off because the great majority of them never have heard of any transportation company with the possible exception of FedEx and UPS.'

'Most young people like to work with companies they have heard of like IBM or Microsoft or Procter & Gamble,' continued Keeling. 'Also, salaries are not as high in freight forwarding for new graduates as they are in the traditional professions of law, medicine and finance. With loans running into the thousands for students, graduates naturally look for the highest paying entry level jobs.'

'Many sources exist in finding new talent for forwarders if you know where to look,' asserted Keeling. 'Millions of students are enrolled in community colleges. Their primary goal is to find meaningful employment in businesses where they can advance in pay and responsibility. Returning veterans are a great employment pool as many service men and women were in logistics operations in the military or did technical work. At CII, we started Operation Must Do where training classes in a number of forwarding operations were conducted for veterans primarily who saw service in Iraq and Afghanistan. CII is expanding the program this year because of its success in 2012.'

Keeling pointed to new, legal immigrants as another source of fresh talent for forwarders. 'Many of these immigrants combine basic business skills with a knowledge of foreign languages that make them particularly valuable to our internationally focused business,' averred the CII chief honcho.

The veteran freight forwarder with a 35-year background in the business both here and in Australia believes forwarders who face up to the challenge of finding new, fresh talent will grow and prosper.. Those who do not will wither and die.