The transportation industry is one of Canada’s largest sectors, and dispatching professionals are the ones who know what it takes to ensure that operations go smoothly. The dispatching profession encompasses many different careers, including operations managers, highway dispatchers, load planners, compliance officers, fleet maintenance officers, logistics and brokerage clerks, and more.
No matter which career path you choose after completing dispatch school, there are a few key qualities shared by dispatch professionals that will help you to succeed in the transportation industry. Professionals in transportation careers must be able to create efficient schedules, communicate with many different parties, and compile detailed reports to ensure that goods, people, and services get where they need to on time. Read on to discover five key qualities that can help dispatch professionals to succeed!
1. Graduates of Dispatch Schools Are Analytical
Within the transportation industry, there are many different logistical problems that may occur at any given time. In order to succeed, a dispatch professional has to use their analytical skills to overcome obstacles, from late trucks to supply chain issues to route changes to communication errors. If you have strong analytical skills, your ability to develop efficient and cost-effective solutions will enable you to keep operations running smoothly once you graduate from dispatcher schools.
2. Performing Well Under Pressure
As a dispatcher, your job may involve a high amount of stress on a daily basis. You’ll be resolving problems resulting from delays, tracking a number of different shipments, accommodating changes, and continuously updating information pertaining to orders. Your ability to handle this stress and multi-task accordingly will come down to your ability to perform well under pressure. If you can keep calm even when stressful situations arise, a career as a dispatcher could be right for you.
3. Communication Is Key
After graduating from dispatch schools, you’ll need to be able to communicate well with a number of different parties. Drivers on the road, customers awaiting their shipments, regulatory bodies, warehousing staff, and other parties all rely on dispatch professionals to communicate key information about shipments, routes, and schedules to them. For this reason, dispatchers must have strong communication and interpersonal skills. The ability to clearly and consistently relay information will be important when it comes to succeeding in this industry.
4. Organization and Attention to Detail
Dispatch professionals handle a high volume of information on a daily basis. Typically, they must keep highly detailed records, including logging ingoing and outgoing calls, making note of any changes made or actions taken, and keeping information on billing, arrival times, routes, and more. The records kept by dispatch professionals will be used to highlight any changes that need to be made, and inform any decision-making that happens. In order to keep helpful records, it’s important to be both organized and attentive to detail, as these qualities will help you to take good records throughout your career.
5. The Ability to Negotiate Is an Asset
Making cost-effective changes to the routes and policies that you create during your dispatch career will involve some degree of negotiation. Whether you’re trying to keep costs low for customers or make changes that will benefit drivers or other employees, it’s important to be able to negotiate, advocating for the benefits of the solutions you’re implementing and highlighting their effectiveness. If negotiation is your strong suit, you’ll excel in a career as a dispatch professional.
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