What skills does modern logistics need today?

Theoretical knowledge is now only the starting point for a career in logistics. In a world of data, automation and increasingly complex supply chains, what matters most is the ability to turn knowledge into decisions and practical action. What skills does the industry need today, and how can we effectively prepare young talent for the realities of the sector?

Logistics has long been one of the key and most dynamic sectors of the economy, while also offering stable career opportunities for university graduates. In large international logistics organisations such as Raben Group, having a well-prepared workforce is critical. The operating environment is characterised by high volatility, pressure on cost efficiency and the growing complexity of global supply chains.

From an HR perspective, the challenge is no longer simply access to candidates, but ensuring that their skills genuinely match rapidly changing business needs. Despite strong interest in the industry, we continue to see a gap between the profiles of graduates entering the labour market and the skills businesses expect from employees in the logistics sector. Criteria that were sufficient just a few years ago to recruit employees and maintain high levels of performance are no longer enough. This is not solely a question of academic education, but above all a consequence of the pace of technological and process transformation currently taking place across the transport, forwarding and logistics sector.

What works: a foundation that still matters

Logistics graduates enter the labour market with a solid theoretical foundation. They understand supply chain architecture, the fundamentals of transport and warehousing processes, and the logic behind logistics systems. Many managers at Raben continue to value a university degree and solid subject knowledge, particularly when complemented by successfully completed internships and work placements. From their perspective, this remains an important advantage, as it can accelerate a candidate’s integration into the organisation and provides a strong foundation for further skills development in an operational environment. It is an entry point into the industry, but it is no longer sufficient as a complete skills profile for many areas of the logistics sector.

Year by year, we are also seeing stronger soft skills among many graduates. Young talent demonstrates a good ability to adapt, developed already during their education, along with effective teamwork skills. Communicating in foreign languages is generally not a major challenge for them. They also demonstrate strong planning skills and flexibility in how they approach their tasks.

The biggest challenge: the gap is not in knowledge, but in applying it

The key issue is not a lack of fundamental knowledge, but a limited ability to translate that knowledge into action in a business environment.

Logistics has undergone, and continues to undergo, a fundamental transformation. It is moving away from an operating model based primarily on experience and intuitive process execution towards one driven by data, prediction and automated decision-making. In practice, this means that logistics professionals no longer simply "execute a process". Increasingly, they are expected to analyse and optimise it and understand its impact on financial performance.

This reveals a fundamental skills gap: the lack of a smooth transition from academic knowledge to real-time operational decision-making. Graduates understand models and processes, but difficulties arise when they need to move from analysis to decision-making in conditions of incomplete information, time pressure and operational volatility. And this is precisely the environment in which modern logistics operates.

This shift from "I know" to "I decide" is becoming one of the key bottlenecks in preparing graduates for careers in modern logistics. The ability to translate knowledge into decisions is therefore one of the most important areas of skills mismatch among graduates entering the industry today.

Skills gaps: three key areas

From an employer’s perspective, the skills gaps among graduates are not isolated deficiencies. Rather, they fall into three recurring, systemic areas that directly determine the speed of adaptation, operational independence and an employee’s ability to contribute to business performance.

The first area is analytical and decision-making skills. It is no longer simply about being able to interpret data or understand KPIs, but about moving from observation to decision-making when information is incomplete and time is limited. In modern logistics, reporting only creates value when it leads to action. The ability to identify process deviations, draw conclusions in real time and make operational decisions that genuinely affect cost, quality and service delivery therefore becomes critical.

The second area is digital and systems skills. Today’s supply chain is a highly digitalised environment in which most processes are monitored and managed through ERP, WMS and TMS systems as well as analytical tools. Although familiarity with Excel, SQL and BI tools is increasingly common at a declarative level, a gap remains when it comes to applying these tools in day-to-day operations, particularly when working with real data under time pressure and taking responsibility for end-to-end process performance.

The third area is organisational skills and the ability to operate in a highly complex environment. Modern logistics is not a collection of linear processes, but a dynamic system of operational flows managed simultaneously across distributed, international and multi-project structures. In such an environment, the ability to prioritise, remain resilient in the face of change and work effectively across functions becomes essential. Decisions are made under constant time pressure and within a network of strong interdependencies between teams and processes.

The gaps we observe are therefore not individual shortcomings, but reflect a systemic mismatch between the education model and the requirements of the modern operating environment. As a result, the key challenge for employers is not only to develop individual skills, but also to enable employees to put them into practice quickly in highly volatile business conditions.

Industry transformation: redefining the "good employee"

Modern logistics is increasingly driven by data, automation and technology. This fundamentally changes the role of employees, shifting them from process operators towards decision enablers who support real-time business decision-making. In practice, the skills of the future include not only technical capabilities but, above all, the ability to adapt, learn and perform in an environment of continuous change. In this sense, competitive advantage is built not only on existing skills, but also on the ability to develop new ones quickly.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that knowledge itself is no longer the key asset. What matters is how quickly it can be updated and applied in operational practice. Organisations today operate in an environment of constant volatility, from supply chain disruptions and cost pressures to rapid technological change. As a result, the idea of a "stable skills profile" is becoming less relevant as a long-term point of reference.

This is why learning agility is becoming increasingly important: the ability to quickly understand new business and technological contexts and immediately translate them into operational decisions. This capability increasingly distinguishes highly effective employees from those who remain at the level of successfully executing assigned tasks, and it is precisely this potential that we look for in graduates entering the labour market.

At the same time, responsibility for skills development is shifting from formal education to the entire professional lifecycle. A logistics professional is becoming less a "product of a university" and more a "continuously evolving skills profile", shaped simultaneously by education, operational experience and the organisation’s technological environment.

As a result, skills development is no longer a one-off stage that ends with formal education. Instead, it is becoming a continuous process embedded throughout an individual’s career. Today, the competitiveness of logistics professionals increasingly depends on their ability to continuously update their knowledge and adapt to changing technological and operational realities.

Closing the gap: a new model of cooperation between universities and business

Reducing the skills gap requires moving away from the traditional education model towards one based on shared responsibility. The most effective solutions are those that integrate learning with practical experience while students are still at university. These include internship and work placement programmes based on real operational processes, dual-study programmes combining academic education with work experience, case studies based on real data and business challenges, and the active involvement of business practitioners in teaching.

At the same time, curricula should be systematically updated to include areas such as data analysis, supply chain digitalisation, process automation and the fundamentals of working with business systems and digital tools.

It is also worth highlighting a broader systemic shift: organisations increasingly do not simply "recruit ready-made skills", but develop them internally through reskilling and upskilling programmes. Effectively closing the skills gap requires moving towards a shared-responsibility model in which academic education and the business environment are closely integrated from the education stage onwards.

At the same time, responsibility for skills development is increasingly shared between universities, employers and employees themselves. Competitive advantage comes from their ability to continuously build and update skills together in response to changing market needs.

Conclusion: a paradigm shift

Logistics graduates continue to represent an important and strategic source of talent for the industry. However, their skills profiles increasingly need to be consciously aligned with the realities of modern, digital and highly volatile supply chains. This is not a theoretical challenge. Employers face it every day in operational environments where the pace of technological and market change directly redefines expectations towards employees.

The biggest challenge today is not a lack of knowledge itself, but the speed at which that knowledge can be transformed into practical and valuable operational capabilities. Modern logistics requires not only an understanding of processes, but above all the ability to interpret them in real time and translate data into business decisions. Particularly important are the ability to work with data, make decisions based on facts rather than intuition, and perform effectively in an environment characterised by volatility, time pressure and growing operational complexity.

In this context, the role of the entire education and skills development system is also changing. Cooperation between universities and business is no longer an optional addition or simply a development initiative. It is becoming essential to maintaining the competitiveness of both individual organisations and entire supply chains. Only close integration between education and operational practice can genuinely reduce the gap between graduates’ skills and the requirements of a market that is evolving faster than traditional education models.