You could read the very first article when the Supply House Times started, and the writer was likely talking about the struggles to hire people into our glorious industry. So in honor of that first article, I’ll pile onto it as well with my spin.  

Getting talented people to look at the PHCP-PVF industry is hard. First of all, what we do is hard work. So, it isn’t for everyone. But, fear not — these potential employees are out there. We just have to find them.  

As your president, I am doing my own research on how to get in front of potential future employees. It started out with phone calls to colleges in our footprint.  

I called TCU (since it is my alma mater and I have a son there), Texas A&M because ASA has a relationship with its Industrial Distribution program already, and LSU.  

I was shocked at the response. I have been invited to speak at all three universities to their graduating seniors. These are seniors that are in Supply Chain Management (or a variation of it) so they already are familiar with our industries and what we do. I hope to have a great update for you at NETWORK in November.  

What I found out is these universities teach supply chain courses, inventory and procurement courses, and logistics just to name a few. And they WANT people from the real world to come and talk to their students about real world applications.  

All of the universities are asking me if Coburn Supply wants to be a part of their career fairs, and if we have copies of what our internship program is about and our onboarding.  

What that means is we have to actually put this stuff together in order to get the interns so there is a bit of work to be done. But this is a great way to get in front of new hires that are interested in what we do.  

Getting talented people is hard. You can go the route I am currently working on by going to your local colleges, universities or technical colleges, or you can use some tools ASA already has to offer.  
 
ASA’s PROJECT TALENT initiative continues to provide multiple avenues to assist members in finding new employees. To create awareness of the PHCP-PVF industry among job seekers, marketing campaigns have driven more than 15,000 unique visitors to SupplyIndustryCareers.com through the first six months of 2024.

More than 50 ASA companies have flipped the switch on the “Now Hiring” option on supplyindustrycareers.com with more than 2,500 brick-and-mortar locations nationwide. There is an interactive map on the site that allows you to pick a geography, and see what opportunities are available.  

Is YOUR company hiring? Have you flipped the “Now Hiring” sign on in your ASA member profile?  

If you are doing a more traditional job fair, ASA’s PROJECT TALENT Recruiter Toolbox was launched in May and 1,400 ASA members have accessed it. There are great tools available to download for recruitment campaigns, job description templates and social media templates.  

As I said before, finding talent is hard. Keeping talent is, some may argue, even harder.  

How do you get a new person up to speed so they can be the best advocate to YOUR company? Telling them they are worth it matters.  Showing them tools to help themselves is “priceless.”  

ASA University remains best in class. Never resting on its laurels, ASA University recently released new mini tracks of an hour or less, allowing learners to get up to speed on topics such as cybersecurity, AI, managing remotely and more. These are bite-sized courses with big, real-world impact. Many courses are getting uplifted and streamlined into micro-learning opportunities for the modern learners, starting with the ProductPro courses.  

If you went to the regional ASA meetings, you heard me talk about the Master of Distribution Management program. It is a program that I was introduced to in 2017.  It took me a while, but as of the end of August 2024, I AM A GRADUATE!!!

And with that being said, you owe it to your employees to have them check out the improved ASA University MDM program. New features here include a reduced timeframe to complete the course (12 months; average commitment about 2-3 hours per month) and added peer-to-peer online interactions. MDM combines practical distribution mastery along with leadership vision.

More than 40 students (wholesalers, suppliers and reps alike) have enrolled in the MDM program this year so far, with one ASA member company opting to do a company-specific program that is more closely tailored to their needs. The feedback from current students, and graduate students from the MDM program has been phenomenal and they really love the peer-to-peer interaction aspects.  

The first class of graduates from the revamped program will be next month, the end of the 12-month program for them. They will recognized at NETWORK2024 in Chicago in November.

As new challenges lurk around the corner in our ever-changing industry, the challenge of finding, training and retaining talent will never go away. Use your membership in ASA to the fullest.