Learn about the basics of operations management by taking a class online or at your school. Discover how this skill can benefit a variety of careers. 

Take an operations management class. 

Get an inside look (literally) at the world of shipping and receiving as a camera records the whole shipping process from inside a package. Does having a hand in this process interest you?

Explore how items from all over the world get to you.

Dive into this overview of a popular organizational philosophy and get started on your own system to up your productivity and start getting things done!

Practice getting organized!

Read an article about the typical responsibilities of a freight forwarder, included the other positions they work with and roadblocks they might encounter. Is this a career you're interested in?

Learn about a day in the life of a freight forwarder.

Freight Forwarders

Research rates, routings, or modes of transport for shipment of products. Maintain awareness of regulations affecting the international movement of cargo. Make arrangements for additional services, such as storage or inland transportation.

Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.

Conventional

Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.

Enterprising

Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services.

Realistic

Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service.

Investigative

Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities.

Social

Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art.

Artistic

Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Cargo and Freight Agents

Office and Administrative Support Occupations

Material Recording, Scheduling, Dispatching, and Distributing Workers

Negotiate shipping rates with freight carriers.

Arrange for special transport of sensitive cargoes, such as livestock, food, or medical supplies.

Arrange for applicable duties, taxes, or paperwork for customs clearance.

Inform clients of factors such as shipping options, timelines, transfers, or regulations affecting shipments.

Prepare shipping documentation, such as bills of lading, packing lists, dock receipts, or certificates of origin.

Prepare invoices or cost quotations for freight transportation.

Select shipment routes, based on nature of goods shipped, transit times, or security needs.

Freight Forwarders

Overview

Career

What Freight Forwarders Do

Other Job Titles Freight Forwarders May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Freight Forwarders

Overview

Career

What Freight Forwarders Do

Other Job Titles Freight Forwarders May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Education

Level of Education Attained by Freight Forwarders

Majors Related to Career

Related Careers