5 key steps to writing a transportation and logistics resume
The transportation and logistics industry serves a massively important service, ensuring that products and goods are transported efficiently through all stages of production – ultimately landing in the hands of consumers. To earn a job in this industry, you need a resume that perfectly encapsulates your work experience, skills, and education.
In this guide, we will teach 5 essential steps for writing a transportation and logistics resume. Keep reading to learn all about:
- Choosing a resume format that fits your experience level
- Writing a resume summary that helps you stand out
- Including both hard and soft skills to showcase your diverse skillset
- Describing relevant work experience using quantifiable details
- Listing educational credentials accurately on your resume
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1. Choose a resume format that fits your experience level
The standard resume format expected by most employers is the reverse-chronological resume.
Reverse-chronological resumes focus primarily on work experience, listing an applicant’s most recent job first and working backward from there. For Transportation and Logistics professionals, this type of resume format provides ample opportunity to showcase hands-on experience and specialized expertise.
However, if you are new to the industry and lack relevant work experience, you may want to consider one of the following alternative formats:
- The Functional Resume: Functional resumes remove the focus from work experience and place it instead on education, training, skills, and unpaid experience. This format is well-suited for current students or trainees, as well as recent graduates.
- The Hybrid Resume: Hybrid resumes combine elements of both the functional and reverse-chronological resumes to spread the focus of the document out between all sections. This format works well for applicants with a mix of both academic and professional experience, applicants who are changing career paths, and applicants who have large gaps in their work histories.
Choose your preferred template and make your resume shine.
2. Write a transportation & logistics resume summary that helps you stand out
A resume summary is a short statement at the beginning of a resume that helps to introduce an applicant to an employer. Good summaries are between one to three sentences in length, focusing on the applicant’s best examples of their skills, experience, or professional achievements.
To help illustrate how to write an effective resume summary as a Transportation and Logistics professional, here is a weak example followed by a correction and explanation:
Incorrect transportation & logistics professional profile example
Transportation Logistics manager with many years of experience working in a corporate warehouse for cosmetics. Exceptionally skilled at efficient distribution of products and achieving high satisfaction levels with coordinating partners.
Why is this Incorrect?
In this example, the applicant is too vague. While they hint at the fact that they are highly experienced and have many key accomplishments, they fail to provide any context that would make this information useful or compelling to employers.
Corrected transportation and logistics resume summary example
Effective Transportation Manager specialized in distributing cosmetic products from a corporate warehouse. More than 5 years of experience coordinating with major corporate clients such as Sephora and Ulta Beauty, achieving a delivery satisfaction rate of 98% and a 75% decrease in delivery errors.
Why is this Correct?
In this example, the applicant improves their summary immensely by providing exact figures such as their years of experience and key percentages to go along with their accomplishments. With this summary, the applicant is far more likely to grab an employer’s attention and keep them interested enough to read through the rest of their resume.
3. Include both hard and soft skills to showcase your diverse transportation & logistics skillset
Any time you write a Transportation and Logistics resume, it is crucial to showcase a wide range of talents. This industry deals with both technical complexities and interpersonal challenges, making it essential for you to include both hard and soft skills on your resume
Hard skills refer to your learned abilities gained through education and training, while soft skills refer to your ability to work well with others and understand the working environment around you.
With this in mind, here are 10 examples of both hard and soft skills to include on a Transportation and Logistics resume:
The best hard skills to put on your transporation & logistics resume
- Delivery tracking
- Coordinating distributions
- Developing business portfolios
- Shipment capacity & coverage
- Bookkeeping & accounting
- Rate negotiation
- Customer billing
- Creating invoices
- Cold calling
- Sales tactics
Effective transportation & logistics soft skills for your CV
- Adaptability
- Attention to detail
- Leadership
- Clear communication
- Collaboration & teamwork
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Multi-tasking
- Stress & time management
4. Describe relevant work experience using quantifiable details
Your work experience section is where your hands-on expertise can really shine.
When writing a work experience section, it is important to provide in-depth bullet points that are also concise. You can do this by using exact and quantifiable details, such as percent changes in profits or improvements in productivity.
Here is an example of a work experience entry from a transportation & logistics resume
Master Logistics, Austin, TX
Transportation & Logistics Coordinator
June 2019 to May 2021
- Developed and managed a portfolio of business for both shippers and carriers.
- Built long-lasting and reliable relationships with clients, onboarding more than 10 new major clients, increasing profit margins by 15%.
- Tracked all deliveries with precise attention to detail, achieving a delivery error rate of less than 3%.
5. List educational credentials accurately on your resume
Generally, the minimum educational requirement to become a transportation and logistics professional is either an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree in a related field. However, in some cases, an applicant may be able to obtain a logistics role without a degree if they have adequate training and experience.
Regardless of what level of education you have, it is important to list is accurately on your resume. Always be sure to include:
- Your diploma or degree title
- The name of the university, college, or certifying institution
- Your date of graduation
Additionally, you can include any relevant academic accomplishments or certifications to help round out your education section further.
Here is an example of a well-crafted education section on a transportation & logistics resume
Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin, TN
A.S. in Logistics Management
- Graduated: 2021
- President of the Student Government Association
Certifications:
- Logistics, Transportation, and Distribution Certification (CLTD), The Association for Supply Chain Management