Warehouse And Operations As A Career

I feel Looking for Work Is Hard Work. One of the biggest misunderstandings about unemployment or career change is the idea that looking for work is something you do casually, or in between other things. A few clicks here, a few applications there, maybe scrolling on some job boards late at night from the couch. And then the frustration sets in when the phone doesn’t start ringing.  The truth is simple, and sometimes uncomfortable to hear but looking for work is hard work. And I think if we don’t treat it like a job, it rarely is going to produce job level results.  We need to remember that finding work requires structure, discipline, preparation, and accountability, just like any role on the warehouse floor, in operations, or in leadership. The people who land jobs consistently aren’t lucky. They’re intentional. They are working a plan.  I’m Marty and today on Warehouse and Operations as a Career I wanted to expand on how hard looking for a job is. We spoke on a few of the topics back in week 37, what was tha

Ghosting has become a two-way street in today’s hiring world. Job seekers feel like recruiters disappear after they send in their application or even after a face-to-face interview. Recruiters, on the other hand, feel that applicants vanish just as often, not showing up for interviews, not returning calls, or even skipping their first day after completing the entire onboarding process. And at the same time, recruiters are overwhelmed with applicants who apply for jobs they’re not qualified for or who have no experience in the industry at all.  In our light industrial, warehousing, and logistics sectors, I feel this problem is amplified. These environments move fast. Productivity, shipping schedules, and labor shortages collide with the reality of high turnover, long shifts, and job seekers searching for stability. Somewhere in the middle of all that, communication breaks down, and both sides are feeling frustrated.  I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and today I want to take a look at these f

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty, and today I thought we’d have another Ask Me Anything episode. I always like these because the questions don’t come from textbooks, supervisors, or managers, they come directly from real associates and warehouse workers with real concerns. Our industry welcomes so many first time job seekers, and those wanting to change career paths. Some of its rules and regulations just aren’t found in other industries and I hope talking about them helps us slow down a bit, and put in the time. Alright, we received three really good questions for today, and honestly, if these three people asked them, I’m confident a hundred others are thinking the same thing, so let’s jump in. First up, my boss wants me to work overtime several times a week, even on Saturdays getting ready for the holidays. I want work-life balance, but it feels like all we do is work. First, I want to say, yes, work-life balance is extremely important, and I encourage everyone in this industr

In warehousing and operations, none of us begin our shifts planning to create risk or endanger someone. Most of us show up, jump on the forklift, our rider pallet jacks, or another piece of powered industrial equipment, to put away pallets, run freight across the dock, build loads, and try to hit our numbers. We hear the safety rules during orientation, we sign the training sheets, we watch the videos. And then we get comfortable. We convince ourselves that “just this once,” or “just for a few minutes” won’t hurt anything. Until it does. I’m Marty and today here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career I want to talk about a real scenario. A young forklift operator lost her job because she placed a stack of pallets in front of an egress doorway. She felt wronged. Her reasoning? It was only going to be there for a few minutes. I was going to move a few things around and would have come right back. She had been trained not to block doorways, exits, electrical panels, and fire extinguishers. She understood it in

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today I want to talk about something a listener asked a few weeks ago. How does one choose a career, and more specifically, how do they end up in the light industrial, warehousing, and transportation fields.  One of the things I’ve learned over the decades is that very few people wake up at 18 years old and say, I’m going to be a forklift operator, or I’m going to build a career in a distribution center.  In my opinion most careers aren’t chosen, they’re found. They’re shaped by our experiences, opportunities, influences, and sometimes just plain necessity.  But once people get here, once they get that first real taste of what this work is like, the stability, the opportunity, the teamwork, a lot of them stay. And that’s what I’d like to talk about today.  Let’s start with a simple truth: most people don’t choose a career the way a high school guidance counselor might describe it. It’s not a straight line.   It’s often a

When we think about goals and planning, most of us picture big dreams, buying a house, raising a family, finding stability, […]

Few things disrupt operations more quickly than a No Call, No Show (NCNS). Whether it’s a missed interview, a new-hire training, an equipment […]

Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today we’re talking about staffing agencies, what they are, why they […]

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I’m Marty, and today we’re diving into something that quietly runs the show in almost every modern […]

I heard of three individuals, in 3 different states, losing their positions this week, and that bothered me a bit. Two of […]

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today we’re talking about something […]

What do you think of when you think of forklifts? I’m sure a lot of us picture those forks sliding […]

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today, I want to talk about turnover.  I’m […]

Hello all! Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and I’m glad you’ve chosen to spend […]

Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I want to start off by saying a huge “thank you” […]

Here we are in week 37, about to end the 3rd quarter of 2025. I’ve always found this time of […]

Warehouse and Operations as a Career the podcast. Marty T Hawkins here. We need to get to a lot of […]

Hey everyone, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. As we continue our series on job descriptions, task, […]

When we talk about logistics, warehousing, and distribution, transportation is the vital link that keeps everything moving. Without trucks on […]

Here we are in the middle of the 3rd Quarter already. Schools are starting back up here in the states, […]