Import Coordinator
Thousands of manufacturing businesses in the UK rely on a smooth and uninterrupted flow of imports to ensure productivity is maximised. The same applies to retailers and wholesale companies too. Warehousing can take up some of the slack, but in many cases, wherever imports are optimised and storage is minimised, efficiency is at its peak. Ensuring all this happens is the import coordinator (no pressure then).
The import coordinator will be in constant contact with suppliers all around the world, making sure stocks and production levels are adequate for the projected needs of their employer. And that’s just the start of the journey – import coordinator jobs tend to require oversight of the freight import process, and that means being on the ball with transportation, usually via third party carriers.
Many import coordinator jobs will also require a degree of understanding of the paperwork and customs requirements to bring goods into the country from the various jurisdictions they deal with, although the job is often purely logistical, with the legals being covered by other specialists.
The skills required
Import coordinator job descriptions often ask for accomplished jugglers – people who can have dozens of ongoing tasks at any moment and retain a firm grasp on all of them. While you’ll usually be helped in this with software and a team of import assistants, you’ll be expected to know exactly what is coming in and how they tally with your employer’s demands.
Language skills will often be required, particularly if the employer deals with a single country. But even if your native tongue is enough to excel, you’ll still need advanced communication skills to make sure your instructions are understood – your business relies on it.
Some employers are looking for specialists in road, rail, air or sea imports, as the logistics, speed, volumes and regulations are often specific to that mode of freight transportation. Always check the description carefully.
Import Coordinator Jobs in Torquay
Torquay is located on the East-facing coastal area of Devon, in the area called Torbay. Exeter is 17 miles (27 km) to the north and Plymouth is 27 miles (43 k) to the west. Torquay was a tiny fishing and farming village until the Napoleonic wars, when the Royal Navy would take anchor in the bay and the members of the upper ranks would often go to shore in the area. It soon gained a reputation as being a healthy place to stay and by the 19th century, just in time for the arrival of the railways it became a famous spa town and later, a tourist resort. Nowadays it has a static population of around 65,000 but in high season this can swell to 200,000, the size of a small city.
Tourist towns almost always have great logistical requirements, which is why Import Coordinator jobs can sometimes become available in the town or the surrounding area. Torquay is not particularly industrialised, but there are several trading estates dotted around the outskirts. Plymouth and Exeter are better employers and are both nearby, which does make Torquay a popular commuter town, and people living there seeking non-tourism related work will often look north and west.
For its population, Torquay has produced a fair number of world-famous people. Top of the pile is thriller author Agatha Christie, for whom a mile of plaques, the “Agatha Christie Mile”, is dedicated. Peter Cook, one half of Pete and Dud, was born in the town, as was comedy actor Miranda Hart and model Lily Cole. Sketches of The Goodies and Monty Python’s Flying Circus were filmed there, and it was during one of the latter’s stays that the team happened upon a grumpy hotelier who became the inspiration for Basil Fawlty, TV’s most famous Torquay-based hotel owner.
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Jobs and candidates incoming at Cast UK
If you’re looking for the perfect import coordinator, we at Cast UK specialise in transport and logistics, and have fantastic talent pools with diverse skill sets in our networks & database with diverse skill sets. Why not give us a call on 0333 121 3345?
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