Supply Chain Management Careers

What is Supply Chain Management?

Many exciting opportunities exist for graduates in supply chain management. For example:

• Strategic sourcing specialist - Determines best sources of supply for most purchases. Negotiates prices, quality requirements and delivery terms and conditions.
• Logistics coordinator - Designs or improves logistics processes in an effort to improve service or reduce operational costs. Makes recommendations regarding warehouse operations, delivery options and transportation strategies.
• Process improvement specialist - Facilitates implementation of process improvements. Provides business input to improve system performance and delivery.
• Material planner - The material planner plans and schedules work through the manufacturing facility to meet the on-time delivery schedule and cost target commitments.
• Enterprise systems analyst - Responsibilities include assessing business needs and formulating solutions through the use of ERP and other applications, and initiating and leading related projects.
• Business data analyst - Interprets business performance results using a variety of techniques, ranging from simple data aggregation to complex data mining. Designs, develops, implements and maintains business solutions, and provides access to information in the form of data extracts and dashboards.

What are some other job titles held by Bauer SCM graduates?

Within what industries will I be able to get a job with my degree in Supply Chain Management?

In what geographic region will I need to live in order to work in the Supply Chain Management field?

What does a work day look like for someone working in Supply Chain Management?

How flexible is a career in Supply Chain Management?

What does the future look like for Supply Chain Management careers?

What makes working in Supply Chain Management so exciting?

How will I be able to find a job after graduation?

What companies hire Supply Chain Management graduates from the C.T Bauer College of Business?

What is Supply Chain Management?

Imagine you are telling your friend about your favorite company. If your friend has not heard of the company, they would ask, “What does that company do?”

Supply Chain Management is the answer to the question, “What does the company DO?”

• It is the parts of a company that turn entrepreneurial DREAMS into reality
• It is the ACTION parts of a company’s activities
• It is HOW a company creates, produces, and delivers products and services to customers
• It is the parts of a business that DELIVER VALUE to CREATE PROFITS for a company

What are the Functions of Supply Chain Management?

PLAN: The executive management functions that determine the best way to organize work
BUY: Finding, negotiating, and purchasing products, materials, and services
MAKE: Organizing processes to produce products or deploy services
DELIVER: Making sure customers have access to your company’s products and services in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities

And when a company can PLAN-BUY-MAKE-DELIVER at a World Class level, that company can:

• Perform their mission BETTER – with higher quality and performance
• Perform their mission FASTER – making customer access easier
• Perform their mission CHEAPER – delivering value to their customers

Which results in SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER PROFITS for the company.

THEREFORE

When you become a Supply Chain Management Professional, YOU are a member of the team within the company that enables a company to DO what they DO better, faster, cheaper – one of the company SUPERHEROS!

Which results in your company achieving better performance with higher profits and lower costs

Every. Single. Year.

What are some other job titles held by Bauer SCM graduates?

Within what industries will I be able to get a job with my degree in Supply Chain Management?

Supply Chain Management is an exciting career with many opportunities for becoming involved in an area that is interesting to YOU. Because Supply Chain Management – the management of the flow of products and services throughout an organization and its partners – is vital for EVERY organization, you can join Supply Chain Management in a variety of areas. Of course, here in Houston, the Oil and Gas industry hires many SCM graduates. But, literally ANY company that you love will be practicing Supply Chain Management and hiring SCM majors. For instance:

• Product Innovation Companies like: Tesla, Apple, Toyota, BNSF, Dr. Pepper, BMW
• Retail and Retail Services Companies like: Amazon, Sysco, Target, Academy Sports, Disney
• Transportation Services Companies like: Coyote Logistics, DHL, UPS, FedEx, Southwest Airlines
• Technology Innovation Companies like: Hewlett Packard, Facebook, Microsoft, Dell
• And also Government, Entertainment, Startups, Construction, Food Services, NonProfits, and others…

In what geographic region will I need to live in order to work in the Supply Chain Management field?

You can structure a career in Supply Chain Management to live anywhere in the world: Houston, Texas, anywhere in the United States, foreign countries, urban areas, rural areas. Supply Chain Management is a Global business. Want to travel to an exotic part of the world and have your company pay for it? Supply Chain Managers in Procurement, Operations, and Transportation often have the opportunity to travel to visit their customers and suppliers. In-person relationship-building is important in Supply Chain and our graduates often determine their own travel itineraries within their jobs.

What does a work day look like for someone working in Supply Chain Management?

After gaining 2 – 5 years’ experience, it is possible to structure a Supply Chain Career around YOUR interests and desires:

• quiet & consistent 8-5 jobs – dynamic self-paced jobs – autonomous responsibility jobs – executive level jobs
• jobs where you travel a little – jobs where you stay in one location – jobs where you travel a lot
• jobs that involve lots of social interaction – jobs where you work independently

How flexible is a career in Supply Chain Management?

Because the functions of Supply Chain Management (PLAN – BUY – MAKE – DELIVER) are so interconnected and interdependent, no matter in what part of Supply Chain Management you begin, you will be interacting with and experiencing all the parts of Supply Chain. In fact, many companies invite their new SCM recruits to join a job rotation program that allows them to experience a wide range of their business functions to make them well rounded and better prepared for top leadership positions. With several years of experience, it is possible to transition to a different part of supply chain, a different industry, or different work responsibility.

What does the future look like for Supply Chain Management careers?

As markets and the organizations that service them become more globally competitive, it is becoming increasingly important that companies possess proficiency in Supply Chain Management. Because costs throughout the supply chain accumulate in the final product and service, managing a Supply Chain well can mean the difference between profits and losses to a company as margins are squeezed.

Thus, organizations are scrambling to hire people with Supply Chain expertise. Research from the Supply Chain Talent Academic Initiative found that demand for supply chain professionals exceeds supply by 6 to 1. And the situation is not getting easier for these companies; the field of Supply Chain Management is expected to grow by more than 20% over the next 5 years. As the supply of Supply Chain Graduates is being outpaced by the numerous jobs available, companies are paying more to attract the best talent and national placement rates for our SCM Graduates is typically between 95% and 100%

What makes working in Supply Chain Management so exciting?

A Supply Chain Management career is exciting and dynamic. The Supply Chain of an organization must be flexible to meet quickly changing markets, global supply sources, and consumer demands. The Supply Chain Manager’s job and responsibilities is constantly changing as they utilize creativity to optimize and improve the Supply Chain. Supply Chain Management professionals see themselves as the problem-solvers in an organization, “playing in the grey area” where there are a range of possible solutions that require creativity and ingenuity to discover and invent. This work is mentally stimulating.

Supply Chain Management jobs are personally rewarding because, at the end of the day, you get to see how YOUR actions directly impact the lives of others in your company, your customers, your community, the world. Supply Chain Managers change the way business works, improve business operations, and create functionality that was not previously there. Thus, job satisfaction for Supply Chain Management Professionals is very high.

How will I be able to find a job after graduation?

The Supply Chain Management Programs at Bauer (Undergraduate and Graduate) have a 97.4% (6-month) placement rate. There are multiple resources on campus available to assist our students in finding jobs:

• University of Houston Career Center: https://uh.edu/campus-life/career-services/
  • Giving you access to the 100s of companies that hire UH Cougars
  • Resources for interviewing and resume advice
  • Campus-Wide Career Fairs with 100+ top organizations attending
  • Lifetime access to these services
• Rockwell Career Center at the Bauer College of Business: https://careercenter.bauer.uh.edu/
  • This is a Career Center dedicated to the specialized needs of students with Business Degrees at the Bauer College of Business.
  • Resources for interviewing and resume building that is specialized for Business
  • Bauer College of Business ONLY Career Fairs (two per year), attracting over 100 employers that are actively recruiting our Business Students
• SPO – Bauer’s Supply Chain Management Student Organization:
  • Hosting Specialized Career Mixers and Mock Interviews that are facilitated by employers of Supply Chain Management students – tailored toward building your interviewing skills for a Supply Chain Management career.
  • Hosting Corporate dinner meetings and networking events with recruiters of our Supply Chain Management Students
  • Supply Chain Management ONLY Career Fairs (two per year), attracting over 25 employers that are exclusively recruiting our Supply Chain Management students
  • Hosting plant tours and industry immersion events so that you can experience Supply Chain Management in action
  • Hosting Professional Development Workshops to enhance your knowledge and give you the opportunity to earn additional certifications in specialized Supply Chain Management topics

What companies hire Supply Chain Management graduates from the C. T. Bauer College of Business?