Customs Declarant
The role of customs declarant is a highly technical and detailed one, which is essential to maintaining the flow of goods in the logistics and freight forwarding sectors where cross-border goods shipments are being made. You’ll be checking consignments before they have left the factory or warehouse, whether that’s in person or via local teams charged with ensuring everything is in order.
As a customs declarant, you’ll find yourself dealing with customers, overseas departments of your own company and suppliers on a daily basis. You’ll also be dealing with the HMRC in the UK regularly, or the equivalent customs, duty and taxation bodies in foreign countries. In some roles, the job can be much deeper, visiting manufacturers and buyers to check up on their processes, stock and paperwork and making sure it’s compliant for the proposed contracts. Often, it is all done remotely, however, and this can open the role up to hybrid working arrangements for certain declarants.
The skills required
Primarily, you’ll be experienced in customs and duty procedures, but since that is a huge subject, some companies are looking for talent that’s experienced in a certain field, for example chemicals, pharmaceuticals or aviation. The number of years’ experience desired varies from business to business, but most are looking for at least 2 years, while others want as much as 5 years in the job.
You’ll be knowledgeable in customs classification, and should know your own jurisdiction’s rules inside out, while being a fast learner when it comes to getting to grips with the rules in other nations and specialised sectors. Your attention to detail and accuracy will be second to none, and you’ll be able to communicate complicated legal concepts succinctly and unambiguously.
Customs Declarant Jobs in Hemel Hempstead
After World War 2, the government set about a programme of building New Towns around the UK to re-house those made homeless by the Blitz. One of the towns built for Londoners was Hemel Hempstead, although a village of the same name had existed there since before medieval times. The town is situated 20 miles (33 km) north west of the centre of London and 10 miles (17 km) south of Luton, with St Albans just to the east.
The town has a shopping centre in the middle, and to the north east there is a large industrial complex called the Hemel Hempstead Industrial Estate. The estate came to worldwide prominence in December 2005 when there was a massive explosion at the Buncefield oil storage terminal. The explosion was supposed to be so loud that it was heard on mainland Europe; the sky glowed and a pall of black smoke covered drifted over London; thousands of properties were damaged. As well as being a depot for forecourt tankers, the depot had pipelines going directly to Heathrow Airport, which had to ration fuel and caused some travel disruption.
The depot was such an important part of the nation’s fuel infrastructure that it was ordered to be rebuilt, and it continues to grow as new parts are brought on stream. The rest of the industrial park continues to rebuild, and the town remains an important element in the UK’s supply system. With such good connections to London by road and rail, and with Luton Airport just up the M1, the town is well placed to continue growing. It’s not unusual for Customs Declarant jobs to come up in Hemel Hempstead, so it’s worth checking with us if you are looking.
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Customs declarants needed now
Nothing can be left to chance with customs declarations, so logistics and import/export businesses are always looking for the most experienced declarants, and very competitive salaries are available for the right candidates.
If you’re looking at customs declarant jobs and have the skills and the experience, why not leave your details with us by registering below? We will get in touch when a relevant opening becomes available – it could be a life-changing decision.
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