As the holiday season approaches and many of us receive gift certificates to our favorite stores or restaurants, it might be worth considering another type of certificate that really packs a punch, at least in terms of your career and income potential: a supply chain management certificate.
At Lehigh University, where I teach, we have a very popular Supply Chain Management Certificate Program. Ours has been around for a while, but in recent times, similar programs seem to be popping up all over the place.
For example, a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, “MIT to Add ‘Micro-Masters’ Program for Supply-Chain Management Certificate program” mentions that their program is intended to boost the school’s pool of logistics students as companies say a talent shortage is growing, and hiring qualified professionals in the field is increasingly difficult.
According to a survey by SCM World, a supply chain talent development firm, 43% of supply chain executives surveyed believe it is more difficult to hire supply chain talent in 2014, compared with 37% in 2013 and 22% in 2011.
So it should be no surprise that a supply chain management certificate is one way of increasing the talent pool, while at the same time increasing the attractiveness of a supply chain career.
So as we near the year end and start thinking of the year(s) ahead, maybe it’s time to consider a different kind of gift certificate, one that you can give to yourself: a supply chain management certificate.
