Transport department and cargo transportation are an integral element of almost any business structure. The connecting link between different companies, regardless of the vector of their activity, is the driver-forwarder. It is he who is responsible for the delivery of goods from point A to point B. At the same time, he must transport the client’s order as quickly as possible, ensuring its integrity and safety. The responsibility of the forwarding driver for the contents of his car is huge, but at the same time he has the rights prescribed in the job description. What features this profession has, what requirements are imposed on people applying for the work of a freight forwarder, and also how much they earn - further in the article.
Driver with an additional burden of responsibility
A forwarding driver is not just a cab driver who spins the steering wheel of his car all day, but a person who is responsible for the cargo entrusted to him, if not his head, certainly his own reputation. At the moment when he signs the documents on the receipt of goods and leaves for the route, he becomes a separate part of the company. Anyone who wants to become a freight forwarder needs to understand that such work involves a number of difficulties that need to be overcome quickly and efficiently, making decisions at your own discretion.
A lot of such activities depend on the route on which the forwarder will have to work. Work within one city is not very burdensome, but has its own specifics. It is usually associated with trade, the provision of transportation services, freight, courier activities. Employers require good driving skills from the driver in urban conditions, knowledge of even its most remote areas, as well as suburban areas. Working as a driver-forwarding agent on duty is generally a peculiar way of life. Not everyone can travel for several days or even weeks, live in a car or roadside hotels, and most of the time be away from home and family. But this also has its advantages - a decent salary, the opportunity to travel to different cities, and even countries.
Five in one
The resume of the forwarding driver usually contains several points at once, in which the applicant for the position indicates his skills. A professional forwarder is a “universal soldier” who can do completely different jobs:
- Driver. Each company puts forward its requirements for this item, but the availability of driving rights is a natural and main condition for the applicant. A person must be driving for at least two years, while he should not have problems with law enforcement officers regarding traffic violations. More often than other companies require a category “B” forwarding driver. In this case, the employee needs to be able to drive only a passenger car, and, most likely, he will transport small loads over short distances.
- Logistician. The freight forwarder knows better than any office employee the territory entrusted to him, therefore he must be able to rationally plan the route of his movement in order to save time and money for the employer.
- Courier. Handing over the goods from the warehouse to the customer and the corresponding documentation of this process are also included in the list of obligations of the forwarder.
- Commodity expert. A person engaged in the transportation of products from the warehouse should navigate in the assortment of his company, not to make mistakes during loading and unloading of goods.
- Mechanic. For any driver, it will be an advantage to understand the device of the car, as well as the ability to eliminate basic problems in a vehicle entrusted to him.
There are other requests for forwarders. In more detail we will talk about them a little further.
Requirements for Applicants
What should be the driver-forwarding agent depends on the company in which he has to work, or rather, on what exactly she does. Organizations engaged in international transportation select specialists who know foreign languages, the regulatory and legislative framework of the states in which the partner companies are located. As well as people versed in the maintenance of supporting documentation and issues related to customs control. Ability to conduct business negotiations with clients and officials is also welcomed.
In addition, the forwarder is required to know the rules of transportation of the goods entrusted to him and the features of its storage. In companies with little coverage, the requirements are usually less stringent. All additional nuances should be prescribed in the instructions of the forwarding driver, which is compiled individually for each organization.
Job description
This document, as we have already said, cannot be universal for all transport companies due to the fragmentation of their fields of activity. Nevertheless, there is a general principle by which the forwarder's job description is drawn up. It should consist of the following sections:
- Description of the general provisions (name and characteristics of the position, information about who the employee is subordinate to, his education, labor rules, safety procedures).
- Responsibilities (here they prescribe what exactly the forwarding driver should do).
- Rights (this paragraph indicates the obligations of the employer to create normal working conditions for the employee, as well as information about the forwarder's authority).
- Service communication (methods of communication between the driver and the office and his actions in the event of any force majeure circumstances).
- Responsibility (penalties against the employee, penalties and forfeits that threaten him for the full or partial failure to fulfill his duties, damage to the cargo, his loss or failure to meet the deadlines for transportation are described).
The instruction must not contradict the current legislation of the country in which the employing company operates. Its provisions come into force after the bilateral signing of the employment contract between the employee and the employer and the entry of the document in the base of the enterprise.
Employee Responsibilities
A forwarding driver of category “B” or “C” should usually do the following:
- Loading / unloading of products and timely control of their quality.
- Registration of transport documentation in accordance with corporate requirements.
- Shipping.
- Monitoring the condition of the vehicle and maintaining its technical condition.
The last point most often raises a lot of questions from applicants. It does not mean that the forwarder is obliged to be able to repair the car, but he must carry out its inspection in time and report on any malfunctions in a timely manner.
Employee Rights
On the other hand, the forwarder may demand that the employer arrange normal working conditions, introduce fair compensation for expenses (payment of business trips, telephone communications, car depreciation, etc.), and make timely repairs to the vehicle. Also, the driver-forwarding agent may submit proposals to the management regarding optimization of the workflow. These are questions of improving the efficiency of logistics, and the normalization of the loading process at the warehouse.
Important! If the driver has a partner, then most often it is he who is responsible for his safety, and therefore he has the right to demand that the passenger strictly comply with safety standards in the car.
Area of ​​responsibility
Due to the fact that forwarders have access to goods and documentation, they are financially responsible persons. By signing the act on the acceptance of goods from the warehouse, they commit themselves to timely delivery to the destination, and until the client signs a waybill on the receipt of goods, only the carrier is responsible for it. Therefore, in case of loss or damage to the cargo, it will be assigned to the perpetrators. In addition, the forwarding driver does not have the right to transfer accompanying documents to third parties or to disclose information about it to anyone, as this may result in a violation of confidentiality and trade secrets.
Driver classification
People engaged in trucking often have a question about what the first, second, and third class of drivers mean. Despite the fact that such a gradation was introduced during the USSR, it is still often found in transport companies. According to her, third-class cabs have the lowest qualifications. They must have rights of category "B" and "C" or "B" and "D", while there is no binding to the driving experience.
Those who apply for the second class, the experience of continuous driving can not be less than three years. They also need to have a valid certificate in the following categories (combinations thereof):
- “B”, “C” and “D”;
- “B”, “C” and “CE”;
- "D" and "CE".
The highest class is the first. Drivers related to him must work in their specialty for at least five years. At the same time, two of them are necessarily marked “Driver of the 2nd class”. Rights must be of all categories except motor vehicles (“A”): “B”, “C”, “CE” and “D”.
Features of the forwarder working in personal transport
Not all trading companies have in their assets a sufficient number of cars for transporting goods, and therefore often hire drivers with their cars. But, despite the widespread prevalence of this practice, not all transport owners know what obligations fall on the employer in this case. The forwarding driver on his car should receive compensation for the fact that the company for which he works uses his personal car. The amount of compensation is based on the following components:
- refueling costs;
- depreciation;
- inspection;
- current car repair.
Usually these are fixed accruals, which are negotiated upon admission to work. You can see the costing of these payments in the salary sheet received by the forwarding driver. The salary of workers in this sector on average in the country is 75 thousand rubles. The minimum that drivers agree to is 30 thousand rubles, the maximum is 120 thousand rubles.
How to create a resume for this position
Any employer, first of all, will be interested in the actual work experience of the applicant. Therefore, in the CV of the driver-forwarding agent, it is necessary to indicate the previous places of work (starting from the last). If the track record is large, you can restrict yourself to positions similar to the one for which the candidate is applying. In addition, in the resume, it is necessary to highlight individual blocks:
- a description of their skills (documentation, the ability to work with a navigator, knowledge of the route, customers);
- personal qualities and characteristics (decency, punctuality, responsibility, endurance, etc.);
- special skills (knowledge of foreign languages, understanding of the device of the car).