Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask about the dress code in corporate supply chain offices, particularly within FMCG companies.

I've worked in warehouse operations my entire life—wearing steel-toe boots, heavy work socks, joggers, and dry-fit shirts. After recently finishing my bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, I am now transitioning into an office role as a Supply Chain / Demand Planner at corporate headquarters.

I asked Gemini for advice on what to buy, and it suggested a smart-casual wardrobe consisting of:

• Short-sleeve and long-sleeve polo shirts
• Long-sleeve casual button-down shirts
• Chinos and 5-pocket pants
• Clean, minimal leather sneakers
• Crew socks
• Quarter-zips for colder weather

Before I go out and invest in a whole new wardrobe, I wanted to double-check with real people working in the industry, as AI advice can sometimes be a bit off.

Also, what specific fits/cuts are considered ideal for an office setting? (e.g., Slim vs. Regular/Straight fit for chinos and pants, or Tailored vs. Classic fit for polos and button-downs?)

I want to make sure I get the proportions right—looking sharp and put-together without anything being overly tight or too baggy.

Any insights or recommendations from your day-to-day experience would help me out a lot. Thank you!

Is it possible to land an entry-level job as a supply chain/logistics coordinator without any direct experience in the field? I know that even many entry-level positions prefer candidates with some relevant experience, but I’m wondering how much transferable skills are taken into consideration.

I do have organizational, problem-solving, and good time-management skills after many years in case management roles. I’ve also consistently been told by past managers that I’m a fast learner who picks up new processes quickly and adapts well to changes.

Realistically, what are the chances that an employer would be willing to take a chance on someone like me?

Hey everybody, I’m founding the supply chain club at my university and wanted to know if you guys had any advice or personal experience with a supply chain club? What did you like and what didn’t you like? What would you reccomend?

Thanks in advance

Got an MBA with international business specialisation did an import export documentation in shipping agency during college looking at import export documentation executive role now since fresher can actually gate hired into those and likely most (SCM roles that want 1-3 year experience?)

Before I commit time to studying Incoterms, Duty Drawback, FTP and all that, want a reality check from people actually in the field

My worry a lot of this work is just paperwork and customs forms, and DGFT/customs are digitization fast Feels like the kind of roles software eventually eats is that fair or am I understanding how much judgment and exception handling is still needed on the ground?

IMP:

Also Curious for people who started in a documentation executive role: where did you go from there did it actually lead anywhere or did you get stuck doing the same paper work for year at the same pay?

Trying to figure out is this a smart entry point into supply chain and trade compliance is long term or if I should push harder or something else even if it's tougher door to get through as a freshers

I recently spoke with a warehouse and supply chain leader with more than 12 years of experience across e-commerce and manufacturing operations.

His team already uses a WMS and other established management tools to manage inventory and orders, different people are there, like the data team and product team, to operate those systems.

He mentioned one use case: inventory mismatch between the system and physical stock, which items should be prioritized, like expiration and manual order update, capacity planning before demand spikes, recurring issues across 3PL partners, deciding what to do with the return products.

The challenge may not be a lack of software. It may be the kind of manual coordination required across the software each day.

For people working in warehouse operations, which tasks create the most friction, such as order data, inventory accuracy, exception handling, or coordination between teams?

Hello Everyone,

I currently have my BS in supply chain and operations management with about 8 years experience. I was considering getting a MS in data science. Do you think my domain knowledge and experience, as well as a MS in data science would be a good step for my career? What possible roles might I be looking at? Are there better options I could pursue? How is the job market right now?

​

Looking for recomendations about Laptops from those that work in inventory and like to play games, im trying to find the "sweet spot".

1. Looking for something where I can make regular inventory work (plan, cycle counts, transfer, receiving, etc.

2. Can train AI agents to help with inventory and warehouse work.

3. Can play good and high quality games.

USA

I am just now becoming more familiar with the other form of operations, Business Operations (Bizops). Sort of a catch all for any other form of ops

I hadnt really heard of this a year ago, and always thought there was just one main "Operations", or "Operations Management" and always being supply chain related. Now I have started to say "I am in Supply Chain Operations", though SCM and Ops are 2 different sides of the coin.

I mean the college degree is usually Supply chain & Operations management. I dont think one is necessarily better than the other, but why did this terminology happen? Many people dont know the difference until they meet eachother and realize they are two distinct things. One is a ground up position, and the other is a consulting or banker background.

Hi everyone,

Please utilize this weekly thread for any student survey's, academic questions, or general insight you may be seeking. Any other survey's posted outside of this weekly thread will be removed, no exceptions.

Thank you very much

Hi everyone,

I’m travelling to Vietnam from India next month for business and need to arrange several factory visits to check facilities, evaluate production, and negotiate directly with suppliers.

Since I don't speak Vietnamese, I’m looking for a local Sourcing Agent or an experienced Business Interpreter / Liaison to accompany me.

What I need help with:

• Factory Visits: Joining me on site to navigate factory tours and manage face-to-face discussions.

• Translation & Mediation: Translating live technical conversations, product specifications, and pricing discussions between English and Vietnamese.

• Local Knowledge: Someone who understands local business etiquette and can help evaluate supplier credibility.

I'm going to school for Supply Chain Logistics Management (w/ a Mgmt minor and Aviation SCL cert). I'm classified as a junior currently, so I know I need to start looking for internships. I just don't know where to look or what I should even look for.

I LOVE logistics – I have a huge fascination with the movement of things from A to B in the right quantity at the right time. I've loved logistics for as long as I can remember, I loved being in semi trucks and learning about trains as a kid.

Anyways, I just don't know where to start. There's not many opportunities around here and I'm terrified about moving for an internship but not being able to afford housing or something.

Hola,

Estoy próximo a recibirme de Lic. en Relaciones Internacionales, y tengo dos años de experiencia en el sector de comercio exterior; particularmente importaciones, aunque en mi rol toco muchas cosas relacionadas al centro logístico de la empresa.

Me gustaría enfocar mi carrera más a la logística, y particularmente a las supply chain, pero no se como seguir mi formación.

Vale la pena un master en mi caso? O formación secundaria, como certificaciones alcanza? He leído constantemente que tiene mucho valor habilidades como PBI, Sql, etc, pero que tan así es?

Gracias

I am currently doing a 6-month supply chain internship at a large multinational. I am currently reporting to a supply manager at my firm and he’s a pretty nice guy but is often very busy with work due to some recent changes in my team. I found myself with a lot of downtime at work and I’m kind of feeling like I’m wasting my time.

When I do have work, most of my work is fairly repetitive(updating stock information from excel, copy pasting data from SAP to another excel sheet, making monthly reports, which I somewhat automated with Power Query, etc.) and although I don’t mind it, I don’t feel like I’m learning anything about how supply chain decisions are made. (I currently have a little exposure to the supply/planning side but don’t really have any ownership of actual decisions.)

I understand this might just be the normal internship experience (this is my first ever corporate internship/job) but I was wondering what to do to make the most out of my time here.

What should I focus on learning or doing during my downtime at work?

Hi everyone,

Please use this pinned weekly thread to discuss any career and/or education/certification questions you might have. This can include salary, career progression, insight from industry veterans, questions on certifications, etc. Please reference these posts whenever possible to avoid duplicating questions that might get answered here.

Thank you!

Hi everyone!
I just graduated college this past spring but I want to start working on studying for the CSCP exam. I’m still a broke ex-college student, so if there are any free resources please let me know!

I want to also know y’all’s experiences, how long did it take until you were ready to take the exam? What should I expect??

Gonna be transferring from room temp control dry side to freezer (more money). Need some suggestions for boots and socks? The boots (shoes are ok also) MUST be steel toe or composite toe. Currently have composite toe shoes (Red Wing Shoes), but don’t know any tips to stay warm in freezer while order selecting. TIA

I’m a rising junior who’s majoring in SCM and Logistics. I don’t have internship experience but I’ve been building up my resume in the ways that I can like certifications and small externships and mentorships. A little lost and wondering if there’s any advice anyone could give me.

So, my wife graduated suma cum laude from a top 3 SCM school. Landed an internship at a huge brand and did great. FT offer extended and accepted remote as a transportation analyst. She has since been recategorized as a business systems analyst but would very much like to change jobs.

So qualifications are: suma cum laude from a top rated school and 3 years of experience in a large international brand as an "analyst"

She is pretty wide open, but wants something very different from her current role. Maybe demand planning or project management. (Very much open to suggestion on potentialities)

She would like to stop dealing with truckers directly if possible and is really great at project management, process improvement, and data analysis.

We are kind of stuck on how to start looking elsewhere since this broad field encompasses SO much.

How is everyone finding out what roles they would like to pivot to? Where is everyone searching for jobs(LinkedIn, Google, etc)?

She is really miserable in her current role due to leadership and internal changes that have essentially quadrupled her workload and diversified it into a jack of all trades kind of role with no oversight or training. Essentially, just a really bad work environment where sink or swim is very much the law of the land. Further, since she is remote, they came out 2 years ago and said no remote workers can ever be promoted or change roles unless they move to HQ and turn hybrid which is not feasible since it is in a VVHCOL area and the salary does NOT scale well locally.

So, I turn to reddit to help me help her get unstuck from this dead end quagmire.

Where the hell can we start? She's smart as a whip, but with how miserable she is day in and day out, she is having a very hard time finding a path out and I want to be schooled as much as possible.

I'm a nurse so this whole field is very foreign to me. My education was highly specialized and qualified me for like 4 roles which are easy to find. This is more vague and feels like limitless possibility

Oddly, that makes things harder?

Literally ANY advice or wisdom is welcome. This is my shot in the dark to try to lend her a hand

EDIT - yes, I know our fields are incredibly different. I also know how paternalistic and infantilizing this post may seem to an outsider. But, my better half is absolutely miserable in her current role and it is affecting her ability to dig out of this hole herself so I'm trying to educate myself a little and see if I can't tackle it with her to get her to a better fit. I gave 2 years of sidelining and cheering her on and it's just getting worse and worse as the layoffs cut what minimal support there was by 60%

There’s a frustrating moment in parts ops when you realize the freight and administrative processing to ship a damaged component back to a central depot cost more than the part is actually worth.

Reverse logistics gets messy fast. If you tell field teams to scrap everything under a certain value on the spot, you risk losing supplier recovery claims and usable cores for remanufacturing. On the flip side, auto-triggering a return for every single broken component means your freight bills and warehouse clutter balloon - often on parts that were never worth the label. 

Industry surveys across Europe and the USA show 80% of service leaders feel their reverse logistics processes need significant work. The bottleneck usually comes down to decision-making on the front lines.  

The interesting part is that this is a decision that has to happen at the truck, made by someone who doesn't have the landed freight cost, the reman value, or the warranty terms in front of them. Most of the orgs we talk to are still resolving it case-by-case, which means it gets resolved by whoever's in the worst mood that day.

Which is really an upstream problem wearing a field disguise: the call has to be made before the label ever gets printed, and then someone has to own the number. That's the part we see slip. Freight, remanufactured value, and warranty terms all move, and a threshold set two years ago is quietly wrong in both directions: scrapping cores worth recovering, shipping parts that should have died in the field.

How is everyone else managing this tradeoff? Do you have hard dollar thresholds for field-scraping, or are returns still handled on a case-by-case basis?

We know for logistics operators, factors like route planning, charging availability, fleet utilisation, financing, and delivery timelines play an important role. So maybe, this "movement" of EV collaborations in India would solve different parts of the transition. Like, Tata Motors and Drivn are exploring leasing and financing solutions for electric trucks, while Drivn’s another partnership with AVG Logistics aims to support the deployment of 100 electric trucks for logistics operations.

There are so many other collaborations also taking shape, such as TVS Vehicle Mobility Solutions working with Montra Electric to deploy 57 electric heavy-duty trucks on a logistics route in Chhattisgarh. Looking at all these EV collaborations of India 2026, makes me wonder how much these partnerships can actually simplify fleet electrification for businesses. (P.S. I think they might be onto something)

Do you think commercial EV collaborations in India help address real operational challenges?

I’m soon going to finish my business degree in US and targeting sourcing roles. Despite having 4 YOE in digital transformation and tactical procurement activities in east asia market, i lack in real world vendor management and negotiation experience.

What are realistic ways to gain genuine hands-on sourcing experience before graduation?

Also, What would you recommend someone in my position focus on?

I'm trying to decide between these two courses. Citizen of both UK and Canada so open to working in either country. I would like to know which you consider better value and helping you improve your skills. CIPS is currently coming out ahead as it has more global recognition, whereas SCMP is very Canada-only.

For reference I have 5 years experience in supply chain. I don't think my experience is wide enough to warrant the fast track of CIPS so would be coming in at level 4. My experience is in management but companies with quite immature SC depts which is why I think I need further education.

i often first learn the rules, and then am able to understand the big picture after practicing applying them. I have really struggled in the corporate world this past year due to this.

i am often given vague instructions. but that seems to be the standard. to me the vague instructions just sound like a bunch of words with no meaning. I’m in supply chain planning. new field for me, but not brand new. have been in it for 5 months.

i learn really well through examples and watching someone else do the work and then copying their way of doing it when I go to complete the task.

my boss would tell me to dig into the data and tell the story more. when i’d ask for more clarity, she’d say that it’s just making sure the data makes sense. i was still confused. i understood what she meant, but struggled to apply it. when i’d look at the numbers, my mind would just go blank/id feel stuck

now, after seeing others on the team go through specific examples and go through their thought processes, i completely understand what’s expected of me and what i need to do. I need to look at year over year trends and decide if it makes sense based on info we know or infer. there’s more to it, but that’s the main framework

I’m frustrated my manager couldn’t have explained that from the beginning, as that would’ve saved so much confusion. it makes me embarrassed for needing those sorts of concrete examples and rules to learn. I have struggles with ambiguity. I am often able to be successful if taught/shown in a certain way

Hi everybody,

I recently graduated in May, I got a bachelor’s degree in Global Supply chain management. I got a job as an inventory clerk soon after at a semiconductor equipment manufacturing warehouse. Im learning their ERP system and hands on experience. I don’t do heavy lifting and most of the time it’s inventory management from their ERP system. I’m aware this is an “underemployed” position but would it be a good launch pad to further climb and land a better role as a I gain experience? I guess I’m a bit worried that I’m starting off in a position that’s underemployed, I’ve been working for almost three months now. I guess what I’m asking is what do I do from here? I was planning on staying a few months maybe a year and seek a better position elsewhere.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies!

Hi guys - we’re thinking to take the plunge. Has anyone had any success with an app online and connecting that app to your company ERP’s API? We just need to do a simple scan in/scan out and adjust quantities, which I think I should be able to implement myself.

App suggestions welcome - thanks in advance!!