France Supply Chain and MichaelPage reveal the results of a study conducted on trends and new supply chain jobs

How are supply chains dealing with the new paradigms of recruitment in companies that are facing a climate of uncertainty and need to be increasingly agile, resilient and circular economy oriented?

The study* carried out with professional members of France Supply Chain in collaboration with Michael Page, draws up a picture of the Supply Chain from a human resources point of view, by observing the expectations of companies, the profiles of candidates and the changes in the sector. It constitutes a set of resources on which companies, Supply Chain professionals and HR managers can rely to follow the evolution of skills, but also students, schools and universities, to understand training and define curricula.

survey of 40 supply chain professionals, 2020

Job market and recruitment: what trends?

In view of the programmed obsolescence of certain skills, the digital revolution and the pace of innovation, this study identifies key profiles for companies, highlighting those most in demand, those most in shortage, but also identifying the positions that are growing and those undergoing transformation.

• With the growth of e-commerce and the industrialisation of logistics sites, certain profiles are now in high demand: logistics site managers (representing 27% of the assignments handled by Michael Page) and supply chain managers in industrial SMEs.
• Others remain in short supply, cruelly lacking in candidates, such as design engineers, industrial SME supply chain managers, logistics operations managers and customs managers, a position that has been heavily impacted by the Brexit.
• On the other hand, certain positions such as transport managers, customer service and logistics coordinators, lean managers and supply chain managers are currently growing. The share of Supply Chain Managers, which for a long time represented less than 10% of Michael Page's assignments, has more than doubled in 2019 and remains stable in 2020.
• The positions of operations manager, which are set to change, reflect the growing interest of companies in profiles from industry, sometimes with no experience in logistics, but with experience in managing operational teams, organising complex flows and lean management.

Among the technical skills sought, the study of trends and new supply chain jobs points to Finance, Risk Management, Technology/IT and Commercial Orientation.

Remuneration and expectations :

Some consultant profiles who have just graduated already have a high salary level on leaving school (40-45K) and can quickly expect up to a 20% salary gap by changing company. For others, however, the high starting salary level does not evolve as quickly. The study also notes a strongly contrasting situation among Supply Chain Managers, with some experiencing a low level of increase (5%), while others are experiencing a very significant increase in their remuneration (20%).

Although there are many factors that make the Supply Chain attractive, candidates are increasingly attentive to the conditions under which they work and to the company's ecosystem: variety of missions, career paths, relations with management, quality of the integration programme, recruitment process and remuneration... They scrutinise the organisation that recruits them by evaluating the resources it allocates to the Supply Chain.

Four new supply chain jobs

To conclude this study, a series of interviews with experts from France Supply Chain, conducted and enriched by the observations of Michael Page, have allowed us to identify four key professions for the Supply Chain of tomorrow:

• Supply Chain Architect,
• Data Analyst Supply Chain,
• Supply Chain Innovation Leader,
• Sustainable Supply Chain Manager.

Still confidential, these professions are today the prerogative of a few large groups, members of the association, who have contributed to this study. Through this sharing of information on the trends and the new professions of the Supply Chain, France Supply Chain illustrates once again its capacity to favour exchanges around the stakes of the sector, to apprehend its transformations, by working in a collective intelligence approach.

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