8 Skills Required When Applying for a Warehouse Supervisor Job

The warehouse is the foundation of every company’s activity, and full-time warehouse jobs are roles that can’t be automated completely. If anything, warehouse employees’ duties are being expanded to tie up with purchasing, inventory control, and customer service.

If you’re looking for a warehouse supervisory position, these changes have made it a recession-proof job. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) listed the median annual salary for a warehouse supervisor as $59,180 as of 2019.

However, you might want to polish your resume and brush up on your management skills because supervisors are now being given more duties that overlap with other departments. This expanded job description calls for a detailed understanding of warehousing procedures and considerable supervisory skills.

Supervisors are taking on more responsibilities and overseeing larger operations because of developments in technology. This means companies are now looking for people who can run full-time day-to-day operations, handle paperwork, and work with either suppliers or customers. Job details include:

• Understanding safety regulations and protocols. You must know how to safely operate and maintain a variety of equipment in the warehouse. You should also be able to train other warehouse associates to do so. As a warehouse operations or production supervisor, your main job is to help employees avoid injury in the workplace.
• Organizing and maintaining a good flow of inventory. You must understand how to run a safe, efficient warehouse operation. This means inventory needs to be organized to easily meet customers’ needs while making sure that employees are following safety protocols.
• Delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. You need to organize and maintain inventory. You are also expected to contribute to strategic planning and reviews on how to increase the productivity and efficiency of the warehouse operations to deliver and exceed customer expectations.
• Communicating job expectations and coaching employees. You must not only be able to do what other employees in the warehouse do, but you must also have a deeper understanding and expertise on each task so you can effectively train new hires.
• Evaluating and reporting employee performance. You must know what to track and record to assess employee performance. You may also be asked to tie employee performance to the efficiency and productivity of warehouse operations.
• Identifying areas for improvement. In this role, you’ll need to ensure shipments and transactions are accurately recorded and delivered. You also may be expected to look for opportunities to improve existing warehouse practices.
• Maintain inventory records. You are expected to handle all monthly inventory counts as well as document any discrepancies and other necessary information needed to project warehouse productivity and status.
• Coordinating activities with other departments. As a warehouse operations supervisor, you will be expected to communicate effectively with other supervisors, employees, and managers to achieve the company’s short- and long-term goals.

The skills required for full-time warehouse operations supervisor jobs are definitely a combination of soft and technical skills. Soft skills relate to how you work, including the way you interact with colleagues and how you handle your duties.

A warehouse manager position will require you to have an in-depth knowledge of the various warehouse software packages. Whether you gained your knowledge through formal education or previous work experience, it only matters that you are well-versed enough to be able to train other employees. You may also be asked to oversee the monthly physical inventory count, check for discrepancies, and input data.

The role of a warehouse lead or supervisor may also require you to have a degree in logistics or business administration. Since you’ll likely be working in a managerial and operational capacity at the same time, you will stand out as a candidate if you are proficient in Microsoft Office, warehouse software packages, or if you can operate relevant types of machinery.

As a full-time warehouse manager, you’ll be interviewing, training, scheduling, assigning tasks, and disciplining your warehouse team. Leadership skills will help you keep your team accountable while still maintaining a supportive work environment. You’ll also need leadership skills to be able to delegate and manage a team with different strengths, needs, and skill sets.

According to a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit, ineffective communication in the workplace can lead to delays or failure to complete projects, low morale, missed performance goals, and lost sales worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As a supervisor, this is a hurdle you will need to overcome. You need to develop effective communication skills because you have to be able to clearly explain job expectations, monitor, and evaluate the performance of warehouse workers under your supervision. You also need to be able to communicate with the managers or operations supervisors of other departments to create reports for warehousing expenses.

You will be hailed as a valuable supervisor if you can take a problem, find the real issue, and be able to provide an efficient and methodical solution. Problems you’ll need to deal with when working in a warehouse will include troubleshooting equipment breakdowns and calling for repairs. You will also be responsible for resolving conflicts between other employees.

Warehouse managers with excellent critical thinking skills are a huge asset to any company. In a warehouse environment, you can utilize these skills by meeting safety standards and identifying areas where you can implement improvements. Supervisors review the efficiency of your current system as you deliver supplies and receive and transfer items. Critical thinking skills can also be applied while recommending plans to improve productivity or customer satisfaction.

You must be able to manage time and prioritize your tasks. As a full-time warehouse supervisor, you’ll constantly need to balance a heavy workload with limited time to get everything done. The ability to manage projects and delegate tasks according to your co-worker’s capabilities will help ensure your days are productive and smooth.

Your main job as a warehouse manager is to create a secure and safe work environment for you and your warehouse team. You achieve this by testing alarms and systems consistently. You should also enforce operating protocols and require preventative maintenance on pieces of machinery. Most importantly, be sure that you and other employees are working safely to avoid physical injuries on the job.

Warehouse supervisors work in businesses where large volumes of certain products are produced, received, stored, and shipped. These companies span industries such as health care, e-commerce, manufacturing, education, food processing, and construction.

Popular equal opportunity employers in the United States are staffing all types of supervisors and warehouse personnel for their distribution centers and warehouses, such as shift supervisors, team leaders, operation managers, and more. These companies currently include Capstone Logistics, Keurig Dr Pepper, CVS, and Amazon.

Candidates with previous warehouse and supervisory experience and a degree in logistics, business administration, or supply chain management have the best chances of acquiring a warehouse supervisor position. Still, a high school diploma, experience or training as a logistics supervisor, and warehouse management experience, in addition to knowledge of warehouse activities will also give job seekers an edge in getting that coveted new job offer.

Full-time and part-time warehouse jobs can be hazardous, and safety is paramount. As the warehouse supervisor, it is your responsibility to make sure that safety precautions and protocols are consistently abided by.

You will guide and lead your team members by example, carrying out plans that are designed and established to achieve a safe working environment.

To do this full-time job well, you’ll need all the skills identified above, such as data entry, time management, critical thinking, and leadership. You’ll also need to gain interpersonal skills, and it may serve you well to have a willingness to update your knowledge of this particular role. We highly suggest making an effort to participate in educational opportunities and reading up on emerging technologies.

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