You may be reading this on a laptop right now. Or like me, maybe on an iPad, or your cell phone. 

And while the act might seem so normal to you now, if you turned back time a few decades, I’m sure people would be amazed at the technology we wield so indifferently today. 

Just think of the capabilities of these amazing machines: they allow you to research an infinite number of topics on a whim, order a handmade product that would have normally been completely out of reach, and even talk to an entirely random person on the other side of the world. 

Our research suggests that the sector’s unfavorable image could be hampering its ability to attract and retain top talent.

Employers in all industries are feeling the pressure of an increasingly candidate-driven market, especially when it comes to managerial and professional hiring. Take the Logistics sector as an example: Material Handling Industry (MHI) predicts in the U.S. alone the sector will need to fill about 1.4 million jobs by 2018; however, demand for Logistics and Supply Chain professionals exceeds supply by a ratio of 6 to 1. These figures make worrying reading for Logistics HR and business leaders.

Talk to any business leader in the Logistics sector and they will tell you that as today’s customers increasingly seek to differentiate themselves. The key to success increasingly lies in identifying groups of customers with similar needs for whom you can develop a tailored logistics response – or in other words, a logistics segmentation strategy. In my opinion, the same can be said about your talent pooling. Enabling you to develop a deeper understanding of all types of candidates in your talent pool, discover what makes each of them tick, and well-attune your pooling activities to their interests, candidate segmentation is a great way for companies looking to unlock the full potential of the talent pool. 

For many, Logistics is as simple as the movement of goods from A to B. For business it is a trillion dollar industry. In this interview, Yvette Rogier, Global Director of Randstad’s Logistics sector, shares her perspective on what skills are critical to the future of the Logistics sector, what strategies companies can adopt to bridge the skills gap, and what challenges they will most likely be confronted with when putting these strategies into practice.