The freight and logistics industry has been talking about its talent shortage for years.

We need younger people. We need new entrants. We need better pathways into freight forwarding and logistics before experienced employees retire and decades of industry knowledge leave with them.

But I think we sometimes focus too much on one part of the problem: recruitment.

Getting someone through the door is only the beginning.

What happens when someone with no freight experience actually joins the industry?

They may have exactly what we're looking for: the right attitude, willingness to learn, strong communication skills and a genuine interest in building a career.

Then they arrive and discover just how complicated freight actually is.

If we're serious about solving the freight talent shortage, we need to look beyond attracting people. We also need to think about how we train, develop and retain them once they're here.

Why is freight forwarding so difficult to learn?

Anyone who has worked in international freight forwarding for a long time knows how much knowledge sits beneath what can appear to be a relatively straightforward job.

A shipment moves from A to B.

Except it doesn't.

There are Incoterms, documentation requirements, customs and biosecurity regulations, shipping line requirements, cut-offs, free time, detention, demurrage, ports, airlines, overseas agents, transport providers, warehouses and customers.

Then there are all the exceptions.

And freight is full of exceptions.

Experienced freight professionals develop an instinct for them. Something doesn't look right and they investigate. They know who to call, what to check and what could potentially go wrong.

Someone entering freight forwarding for the first time doesn't have that knowledge.

It has to be developed through training, exposure and experience.

Why new employees don't always know which questions to ask

I think those of us who have worked in freight for a long time can easily forget what it felt like at the beginning.

When you've worked in the industry for 10, 20 or 30 years, many decisions become almost automatic.

An inexperienced employee might be staring at something they've never encountered before while the experienced operator sitting beside them has dealt with the same situation dozens of times.

The experienced person sees the problem immediately.

The new employee may not even realise there is a problem.

That doesn't necessarily mean they lack initiative or aren't suited to a career in freight forwarding.

Sometimes, they simply haven't been taught enough yet.

And that creates one of the biggest challenges when training someone with no freight experience:

How do you ask a question about something you don't know you don't know?

Freight training needs to be more than "ask if you need help"

Throughout my career in freight and logistics recruitment, I've often heard companies say:

"We have an open-door policy. If they don't understand something, they can always ask."

That's important.

But it isn't structured training.

An open door only works when someone recognises they need to walk through it.

If I don't know something is unusual, why would I ask about it?

If I've never encountered a particular freight problem, how would I know what warning signs to look for?

If I don't understand the consequences of making the wrong decision, how would I know when to escalate it?

When freight forwarding companies recruit people with little or no previous industry experience, those employees need more than access to experienced colleagues.

They need structured onboarding, regular check-ins, practical training, mentoring and opportunities to learn from mistakes in an environment where they feel comfortable admitting they don't know something.

The responsibility for development can't sit entirely with the person being developed.

Technology is changing entry-level freight careers

This becomes even more important when we consider how careers in freight forwarding have changed.

Many experienced people in our industry started in junior operational or administrative roles.

They learned freight by doing freight.

They handled documents, entered data, spoke to customers, followed shipments, dealt with problems and gradually developed an understanding of how international freight moved from origin to destination.

Technology, automation, AI and offshoring have changed many of those entry-level freight roles.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Removing repetitive administration can make freight forwarding businesses significantly more efficient.

But we also need to recognise what else we may be removing.

Those basic tasks were often the training ground for the people who eventually became experienced freight operators, Customs Brokers, account managers and logistics leaders.

I explored this issue with Customs Broker Stephen Dennis on Freight Unpacked. We discussed what happens as data-entry work is increasingly offshored or automated and where the Customs Brokers of the future will gain the practical experience they need.

Technology can remove the task. It doesn't automatically replace the learning that once happened while someone performed it.

That's something I think our industry needs to consider carefully.

Why recruitment alone won't solve the freight talent shortage

We often talk about the fact that younger people don't know the freight and logistics industry exists.

That's probably true.

But awareness alone isn't going to solve the industry's talent shortage.

We could promote freight careers brilliantly.

We could convince school leavers, graduates and career changers that international freight forwarding and logistics offer interesting and rewarding career opportunities.

We could recruit them.

But if they enter the industry and find themselves overwhelmed, poorly trained or expected to perform at the level of someone with years of freight experience, how many will stay?

Attracting talent without developing it simply creates a revolving door.

The measure of success shouldn't just be how many people we bring into freight.

It should also be how many we help build sustainable careers within it.

Not everyone will be suited to a career in freight, and that's okay

Freight isn't for everyone.

International freight forwarding can be stressful, unpredictable and unforgiving. Priorities change quickly. Customers want answers. Deadlines don't disappear because something has gone wrong elsewhere.

Some people will enter the industry and decide they don't want a career in freight.

That's okay.

Good training isn't about ensuring every person we recruit stays forever.

It's about giving people a genuine opportunity to discover whether they can succeed.

There is a significant difference between someone leaving because freight isn't right for them and someone leaving because they were never given the training and support required to become competent in the first place.

As an industry, we should want to know which one it is.

Recruitment is only the first step

Perhaps this is where the conversation about the freight and logistics talent shortage needs to change.

Recruitment gets someone through the door. Training and development turn them into a freight professional. Retention gives them enough time to become experienced.

We need all three.

Businesses spend considerable time and money finding the right person. We advertise, interview, assess experience and try to identify whether someone will be the right fit for the role and the organisation.

But how much thought goes into what happens after they start?

For someone entering freight with limited or no industry experience, those first few months can have an enormous impact on whether they build a career in the industry or decide it isn't for them.

A structured development plan shouldn't end after the first week of onboarding. Training and support need to continue as the employee encounters new situations, develops confidence and begins to understand how the different parts of freight fit together.

The first three, six and even twelve months should be viewed as part of developing the employee, particularly when we're deliberately recruiting people without previous freight experience.

If we want companies to consider candidates from outside the industry, we also need to be realistic about the investment required to turn potential into experience.

And I think that's an important distinction.

Hiring for potential only works if we're prepared to develop it.

How can freight companies better develop new talent?

There isn't one solution to the freight talent shortage, but businesses can start by looking more closely at the experience of someone entering the industry for the first time.

That could include structured onboarding rather than relying solely on learning on the job, formal mentoring with experienced freight professionals, regular training and knowledge-sharing sessions, exposure to different parts of the freight forwarding process, clear career pathways and regular check-ins during the first 6 to 12 months.

Most importantly, we need to create environments where inexperienced employees can comfortably say:

"I don't understand this."

Without feeling as though they should already know the answer.

Experienced employees also hold enormous amounts of knowledge that isn't necessarily written down anywhere.

As more experienced freight professionals approach retirement, transferring that knowledge becomes increasingly important.

AI and technology may help us capture some of it.

But people still need opportunities to apply that knowledge, make decisions, solve problems and learn alongside experienced professionals.

That's how experience is built.

The freight talent shortage isn't just a recruitment problem

Perhaps we've been asking the wrong question.

Instead of only asking:

How do we attract more people into freight and logistics?

Maybe we also need to ask:

How do we turn someone with no freight experience into an experienced freight professional?

Because the future of the freight industry won't be determined simply by how many people we recruit.

It will be determined by how many of them we successfully train, develop and retain.

If we want the next generation of experienced freight professionals, we first have to give inexperienced people somewhere to begin.