Supply Chain Review magazine's annual Career and Salary Guide published in association with Logistics Executive Group, the world's leading Executive Search organisation for the Logistics and Supply Chain industry.

1. Career & Salary Guide
Life
Blood
Queensland Future Leaders
award-winner Nicole Holyer
lights the way
PLUS:
• Exclusive Salary Guide
• Hot jobs in supply chain
• Grow your talent
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• RMIT steps up in Asia
• settling cultural woes
• Planning CEO succession
• Ed Frazelle lands in Oz

2. career & salary guide ANALYSIS
Back to BASICS
The Australian supply chain and logistics sectors continue to be
significantly impacted by the mining and resources boom
Employers across Australia are adopting a back-to-basics approach with a
focus on core commercial skills when hiring across a wide range of positions.
Anna Game-Lopata reports
L eaders who can conduct financial and strategic
analysis can help companies understand trends
impacting the business and make them well placed
for expansion. They can also identify cost savings; an
activity always on the modern company’s agenda. So it’s not
industry has been able to recruit from outside its traditional
space.
“We’ve been able to introduce excellent candidates from
other sectors including the manufacturing, information
technology, FMCG and retail sectors where demand has
surprising, people with this kind of skill-set are particularly softened over the last 12 months,” Winter says.
in demand. “In the last 12 months we made twice as many
In Australia, tertiary qualifications including business, placements in commercial, finance and business
commerce, economics, and social sciences remain the most improvement positions in Western Australia and almost
in-demand credentials for mid to senior level executives. as many on the eastern seaboard as we did in the previous
Exclusive market intelligence from leading global year.”
recruitment firm Logistics Executive Recruitment Winter also says employers are also looking for
(Logistics Executive) points to an increased demand for candidates with analytical skills, proficient in the most
commercial roles. popular and up-to-date system and software applications.
In addition, Logistics Executive’s 2012-13 Supply “New systems are being rolled out to improve
Chain Employment Market Survey, produced annually efficiencies, but many organisations continue to require
for SupplyChain Review’s Career and Salary Guide, shows candidates with advanced knowledge of traditional
an increased demand for distribution, warehousing, software programs, such as Microsoft Excel, and experience
procurement and inventory executives across the extended using enterprise resource planning systems such as SAP
supply chain. and Oracle,” he says.
In particular, the survey shows the mining, resources, In supply chain and logistics the highest level of demand
agriculture, manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods has been experienced in procurement and sourcing in the
(FMCG), retail and pharmaceutical sectors are on the hunt mining and resources sector.
for business improvement, change management skills and “The retail sector is placing distribution and transport
commercial acumen. roles as a priority, whereas the third party logistics and
Logistics Executive CEO Kim Winter says building contract logistics space is recruiting CFOs, accountants and
talent pools for in-demand roles from within logistics distribution centre managers,” Winter says.
ranks continues to be challenging but the good news is the “The pharmaceutical sector is also seeking DCMs, as
34 October 2012 Proudly supported by supplychainreview.com.au

3. salary GUIDE
Annual Annual
Position Salary ($’000) Position Salary ($’000)
SENIOR EXECUTIVES WAREHOUSING
Chief Executive Officer 450-1,000+ National Warehousing Manager 150-200+
Chief Operating Officer 300-400 Operations Manager 120-160+
President General Manager 300-450+ Distribution Centre Manager 140-170+
Vice President 220-300+ Contract Manager 180-140+
FINANCE Warehouse Manager 130-140+
CFO- Finance Director 200-500+ OH&S Manager 120-140
Senior/Chief Accountant 110-170 TRANSPORT
Financial Controller 125-220+ General Manager Transport/Logistics 00-250+
2
Treasurer 120-200 National Transport Manager 180-220+
Finance Manager 105-165+ National Compliance Manager 160-180+
Commercial Manager 100-200+ State Transport Manager 130-160
Accountant 80-120 Linehaul Manager 120-150
Credit Manager 70-135 Site Manager 120-140
Business Analyst 70-130 Workshop Manager 100-140
Management Accountant 70-130 Import/Export Manager 70-130
Financial Accountant 70-115 Shift Manager 70-115
HUMAN RESOURCES SALES AND MARKETING
Director/VP Human Resources 240-280+ General Manager Business
GM Human Resources 170-200+ Development (BD)/Sales 160-230+
Human Resources Manager 120-140+ National Manager BD/Sales 140-190+
SUPPLY CHAIN Sales/Business Development
Supply Chain Director/GM 250-350+ Manager 100-140+
National Supply Chain Manager 180-240+ Account Manager 90-130
Project Manager 130-150 Customer Service Manager 80-130
Manufacturing/Plant Manager 120-160 Marketing Manager 70-130
Production Manager 90-130 Sales Executive 60-100
Supply Chain Analyst 80-120 PROJECT MANAGER/INTERIM MANAGER per day
LOGISTICS Project Logistics Manager 800-1,500+
GM Logistics 200-280+ Project Implementation
Commercial Manager 150-180+ Manager 3PL 800-1,500+
National Logistics Manager 150-180+ Project Implementation
Regional Logistics Manager 130-160 Manager WMS/TMS 1,000-1,500+
State Logistics Manager 130-160 Quality/Lean/Six Sigma
Logistics Manager 80-120 Implementation Manager 1,000-1,500+
Logistics Analyst 80-120
Inventory Manager 80-100
PURCHASING/PROCUREMENT/PLANNING/
MATERIALS
Chief Procurement Officer 220-300+
Group Procurement Manager 200-250+ Data Supplied by Logistics Executive Recruitment
Remuneration packages relate to large privately owned or medium-sized
Category Manager 140-160 publicly listed companies, include base salary, superannuation and vehicle
Category Specialist 110-150 allowance.
Packages do not take account of Short Term Incentives (STI) or Long Term
Procurement Manager 90-130 Incentives (LTI). Some remuneration packages in small to medium size
Purchasing Manager 80-130 companies may be 5–15 percent below those quoted.
Materials Manager 80-130 Some remuneration packages in large tier one publicly listed or in Mining/
Resources, companies may be 10-30 percent above those quoted.
Planning Manager 80-130 Remuneration packages quoted are based on research, actual placements made
Contracts Specialist 80-120 in the past 12 months and customer feedback and are a guide only.
supplychainreview.com.au Proudly supported by October 2012 35

4. career & salary guide ANALYSIS
well as a significant number of general procurement staff
and managers.
“Marine and shipping executives are currently prevalent
selections in the oil and gas sector, FMCG companies are
seeking operations management and the apparel industry is
rapidly hiring operations and distribution leads.”
Supply chain analysts, industrial manufacturers,
commercial directors and business development
managers are highly sought after in the freight forwarding
sector while pre-sales and industry management is a
hot requirement in the warehouse management and
technology space.
Winter adds Logistics Executive has also witnessed a
lift in requirements for experienced sales and business
development people.
“Many of our clients see attacking the market with an
increased business development presence as the best from
of defence in the current economic conditions,” he says.
“This increased demand is so marked, we’re building
a national database of senior and mid- level sales and In the last 12 months Logistics Executive Recruitment made twice as many
business development candidates with transferable skills for placements in finance and business improvement positions
clients across a number of similar industry verticals.”
Another significant trend is the increased use of high- candidates giving consideration to family continuity over
level supply chain and logistics industry contractors and remuneration and even enhanced career prospects when
consultants in interim roles to assist companies improve considering opportunities in WA.
efficiencies and reduce costs. “We’ve also noticed a drop off in the level of interest
“Many organisations are relying more heavily on project in lucrative [fly in, fly out] roles due to the disruption of
professionals as they undergo significant periods of change, family life,” he says.
restructure or transformation such as business systems Despite this observation, the Australian supply chain
implementation and process improvement,” Winter says. and logistics sectors continue to be impacted by the mining
“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in the demand for six and resources boom, driving higher salaries in WA and the
sigma or lean executives to work on transformation and Northern Territory.
implementation projects.” “There’s no doubt salaries in Australia’s west and north
While the logistics sector commenced the 2011-12 are still firmer than the east coast due to higher demand for
financial year with most roles in high demand, the wet a wide range of roles including supply chain, performance
summer in 2012, strong Australian dollar and east coast improvement, heavy transport, fleet utilisation, operations
floods contributed to a slight decline in industry activity. and finance,” Winter says.
“This resulted in a softening in demand and salary levels A lack of specialist skills within the Australian workforce
leading into 2012,” Winter explains. is also forcing companies to turn to the global labour
“The early 2012 strength of the mining and resources market.
sector has begun to taper off easing salary level pressure “To compete with the compensation packages offered
generally nationally although demand for transport, project throughout the mining and resources industry, many
logistics and 3PL experience remained firm.” companies are offering career development opportunities,
There is also evidence candidates are unwilling to move higher education, training packages, work-life balance
to WA for employment. benefits, even e-tags, sports club and gym memberships,”
“We’re receiving significant feedback from major WA- Winter says.
based customers and large numbers of candidates from our For the remainder of the 2012-13 financial Winter
40,000-strong Australian database indicating job seekers predicts an increase in demand for executives with 3PL,
are indisposed to taking work in the west,” Winter says. 4PL, business improvement and change management skills
This view is supported by new research from Edith as many manufacturers and FMCG companies look to
Cowan University, which backs resources industry claims improve their business results.
that a temporary intake of migrant workers will be essential “Indictaions are that salary levels will remain firm for
to meeting local skills needs. distribution, warehousing, procurement and inventory
“We identified cases where recently retrenched workers positions and roles with commercial qualifications,” he says.
[in the eastern states] declined to relocate to WA, due to a “Salary levels across the wider market will remain
range of reasons from social and family commitments to static on the west coast and in the north and soften to
the cost of living and a lack of infrastructure in some areas,” some degree in the east until the second quarter of next
Researcher Dr Susanne Bahn says. year when we expect the employment market to firm
Kim Winter points to an increasing number of senior nationally.”
36 October 2012 Proudly supported by supplychainreview.com.au

5. Career & Salary Guide MARKET ANALYSIS
Board room
moves
Supply chain executives are optimistic about
the future despite a diet of gloom from the
media. But given rapid change and ongoing
talent shortages, who is closer to the truth?
Anna Game-Lopata investigates
T
here’s a lot of speculation about Australia’s current experienced stable or increased staff levels over the last
and future economic fortunes. Much has been 12 months. Last year’s survey shows significant optimism
said in the board room, the media, at dinner with 80.1 percent predicting this would be the case.
tables, cafes and bars about the lack of confidence we By contrast, the global group surveyed, predominantly
have in both the domestic and global economies. But in Asia, India and the Middle East, were more optimistic
are Australians too negative? Key business leaders and than the Australians. Eighty-six percent last year
commentators agree many of the fundamentals of our predicted their staff would either increase or remain
economic base are in good shape by comparison to most constant. Interestingly, just 78 percent report this to have
of our trading partners and other countries. been the actual outcome 12 months later.
This year’s 2012-13 Employment Market Survey, Meanwhile, this year 76.4 percent of Australians expect
produced by leading recruitment firm Logistics Executive the status quo or growth in staffing levels in the next 12
Recruitment (Logistics Executive) reveals well over the months. They are just 10 percent less hopeful than their
majority (69.63 percent) of Australian CEOs, directors, global counterparts, 85.6 percent of whom predict no
vice presidents and other management people surveyed change or growth.
38 October 2012 Proudly supported by supplychainreview.com.au

6. These figures place Australians as a little less optimistic in so we’ve been very keen to find out just what the impact
than last year, and less positive than their Asian there has been,” he says.
counterparts. As we know, Asian and Middle Eastern With inflation near 2 percent, the lowest in 13 years,
countries have rapidly growing logistics industries. But unemployment near 5 percent and real wage growth,
could the Australian media be over-feeding our negative conditions in Australia seem pretty good.
tendencies? “Having spent most of the last six months between our
Logistics Executive’s fifth consecutive piece of global Middle East businesses in Dubai, Singapore and Australia,
research the 2012-13 Employment Market Survey received I couldn’t help notice the comparisons of positive media
responses from 2,830 middle and senior managers in stories in Asia and the Middle East compared to the doom
80 countries with the majority (78.6 percent) employed and gloom in the Australian press,” Winter says.
throughout Australasia, North and South East Asia,
India and the Middle East. Sixty percent are employed “Improving an organisation’s
in either supply chain, logistics, transport, procurement,
inventory, distribution or warehousing. They represent
talent pool is a well-recognised
41 industries including third party logistics (3PL), fast- element of the most successful
moving consumer goods (FMCG), mining and resources,
manufacturing, industrial, road and rail transport, oil and
companies.”
gas and freight forwarding among others.
Logistics Executive CEO and founder Kim Winter says
the survey was conducted against the backdrop of wider “It is clear to me and many Australian executives I’ve
economic troubles in Europe, with unemployment rates spoken to that the current malaise has its origins more
of between 10 and 25 percent in some countries, and in thought than in fact. This year’s survey results support
ongoing recessionary conditions in the United States. this view.”
“There’s been a great deal of speculation about the However there are always challenges to be managed.
effect of Europe and the US on the regions we do business When asked, executives indicate profitability is their
supplychainreview.com.au Proudly supported by October 2012 39

7. Career & Salary Guide MARKET ANALYSIS
main concern, followed by talent attraction and employees leaving organisations has been to seek a better
leadership development. salary,” Winter explains.
“Last year, the order of priority was customer “This suggests jobseekers wishing to satisfy career
satisfaction, productivity and leadership development aspirations as their priority are in many cases finding
suggesting commercial concerns and recognition of advancement too slow in coming at their current
the need to attract talent to drive profitability has taken workplace. Possibly financial matters take precedent.”
precedence under the prevailing economic conditions,” Frustratingly for the ambitious in this category, the
Winter observes. pace of salary increases has slowed considerably.
“Continually improving an organisation’s talent pool This year, 34 percent of respondents expecting a salary
is a well-recognised element of some of the world’s increase of between 0 to 2 percent received one. But of the
most successful companies, much the same as the most 48 percent surveyed last year expecting a 3 to 5 percent
successful sports teams succeed through recruitment of salary increase, only 39 percent got one. Just 7 percent
top coaches and key players.” were rewarded with a 6 to 8 percent salary increase, even
Unfortunately, the survey shows a continuing difficulty though 11 percent were expecting one.
recruiting supply chain talent. Career advancement has ranked consistently as the
Over the last 12 months in Australia, 64.3 percent second most common reason for leaving employment.
say they had found it harder to hire the right people “Last year a lack of employer values ranked as the
compared to 61.2 percent last year. third key reason for leaving whereas this year a change of
“Just 28.6 percent found it easier to recruit last year industry ranked in that position,” Winter says.
and the figure is much the same in this year’s survey,” “While the survey does not ask which industry
Winter says. candidates are leaving for, there is strong evidence
“These results support the view of most employers to support the view a significant proportion have
that our industry continues to experience ongoing successfully applied for roles in the mining and resources
skills shortages across a wide range of vocations such industry.”
as business transformation, change management,
business development, distribution centre management, “Over the last six years, the
commercial management and financial roles.”
Although Australia’s supply chain management sector
primary reason for employees
faces skills shortages, its employers are still the least likely leaving organisations has been to
to utilise overseas talent.
“The main constraints identified in order of priority
seek a better salary.”
include visa or work permit issues, followed by concerns
about cultural fit and difficulty in evaluating candidates.,”
Winter says. When asked to identify the reasons why new
This attitude towards overseas talent becomes employees joined their organisation, those surveyed
increasingly worrying for Australia’s supply chain listed career advancement, more money, job security and
industry’s future given, as a general rule, overseas employer values as the four highest-ranking factors.
professionals are 10 percent better educated than we are. “This reflects last year’s survey except that this year
Just 78.9 percent of survey respondents hold either job security ranks ahead of employer values. This tends
postgraduate or undergraduate degrees or other levels of to support the consistent feedback we have that an
tertiary qualification. increasing number of employees are choosing to remain
“This percentage has been consistently about 10 with their current employment compared to trends in
percent lower than the wider global respondent sample previous years. This is due to the uncertainty around
since our surveys began in 2008,” Winter laments. joining another company, an element of ‘better the devil
“It highlights a gap in educational levels in Australia you know than the one you don’t’, among other factors.”
compared to industry executives offshore and suggests the Like many company movers and shakers, Winter warns
disadvantage we have against peers globally. it’s time for companies to see the writing on the wall and
“The fact that Australia has dropped from number five respond by building excellence into their teams now.
slot up to 10 years ago to 20th position out of 133 in the “What we’re seeing in Australia currently is significant
World Economic Forum’s ranking for competitiveness change as many sectors of the economy undergo a major
and innovation could also be reflective of substandard shift in the way they operate,” he says.
education and should be a wake-up call to government “This has a knock on effect across the wider supply
and business leaders if we are to regain ground and chain employment market. One of the best examples of
maintain relevance with our higher-ranked global trading this is the mega-shift in the way the consumer products
partners,” he argues. market is moving online, forever changing the way
The survey also contains clues from the employee consumers behave. It’s having a massive effect on buying
perspective, as to possible reasons for recruitment patterns, manufacturing, FMCG operations, warehousing,
difficulties. distribution, retailing and employment trends across all of
“Over the last six years, the primary reason for these sectors.
40 October 2012 Proudly supported by supplychainreview.com.au

8. “We are noticing two distinct trends in the market
from an employment perspective. On one hand, GRAPHS
companies are interpreting the current market dynamics
quickly, taking appropriate actions to get on the front Which statement best applies to your business and hiring
foot, to ensure their survival by ensuring they have the experiences over the past 12 months?
appropriate executive team and adequately skilled staff
to lead business direction. These organisations have been
taking the hard decisions, actively replacing staff, often
on professional outplacements programs, not suited for
current conditions with the talent they require.
“Our industry continues to
experience ongoing skills
shortages across a wide range
of vocations.”
It is becoming It is becoming There has been NO
“Our outplacement business has increased three- HARDER to source/ EASIER to source/ CHANGE in the past
fold in the last 12 months as employers adopt an ethical hire quality staff to hire quality staff to 12 months
approach to transitioning employees out of their business, meet the business meet the business
providing professional assistance including job search demands demands
support, resume writing and interview technique support
to those who are leaving their company,” Winder adds. Please indicate the change in your company’s activities or
On the other hand, Winter observes many companies
are failing to realise the magnitude of fundamental
growth this financial year compared to last year
changes taking place.
“These companies tend be more traditional in structure
and culture, they have typically prospered well with legacy
business models in stable environments,” he says.
“Their executive teams are inexperienced at dealing
with the pace and nature of generational change Australia
and the world is undergoing.
“Businesses hesitate at their peril in times of rapid
change.”
His view is reflected by Linfox CEO Michael Byrne
speaking recently at a conference.
“There are three types of organisations,” Byrne
asserts. “Those who make things happen, those who
follow what’s happening and those who wonder what Increased Decreased Remained
just happened.” the same
“Data supplied by Logistics Executive Recruitment”
Recruit the right people with
TransJobs .com.au
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