Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Hey all, Marty T Hawkins here, and welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career ! We’ve spent the mid-week in Bolingbrook Illinois, and I am dreading heading back to the Texas July heat this evening! Today we’re taking a closer look at three important but often underrated roles within the warehouse. These are the kinds of jobs that don’t always get the spotlight, but if...

Thanks for stopping in at Warehouse and Operations as a Career again, I’m your host Marty and we have a lot of ground to cover today! I hope everyone is having a great week.  Can you believe we’re almost through the 1 st   month of the 3 rd   quarter of 2025 already. What week are we in, let’s see, 29, week 29 is coming to a close.   Today I thought we’d talk about two different positions. L...

Hey again, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. We work, that’s how the world works. I’ve had the fortune of working in the light industrial industry or the warehouse and transportation fields for my entire career, over 45 years. I’ve errored, messed up, been irresponsible, negative at times and I consider myself more than lucky for making it through it all, and having the m...

Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and it has been a bit. Life and careers both are why we work. Over the last 7 months, well, off and on longer than that I guess, referring to my lack of weekly episodes, a lot has changed in both life and careers for a lot within our manufacturing, production, and distribution industries. Today I’d like to talk about just a few of the areas that I’d...

We all work to pay our bills and provide a better living for our families.  Some of us, I hope most of us, are fortunate enough to enjoy our jobs so much that it isn’t work at all.  I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and today I’d like to start off with a question from a gentleman here locally. You know, we’re often taught and trained how to do our jobs, we’re given all the standa...

Hello everyone, Marty T Hawkins here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  I want to sincerely thank you for checking in with us each week and I hope we mention something that will affect your career in some kind of positive way here today!    I want to share something real quick.  I went to the grocery store today, a national chain, it’s close, convenient and frankly just easy for me to get...

Marty T Hawkins back with you and another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  Is everyone having a fabulous week so far? Today let’s talk about a few of the things that we as employees sometimes must deal with, many times things we possibly bring on ourselves.  Throughout my travels each week I hear about lost jobs, NCNS, layoffs, and a lot of reasons why individuals have loss those...

Hey hey all, you found Marty and Warehouse and Operations as a Career here again. Here we are in week 50 of 2024. I just realized we haven’t talked about our 2025 goals or plans yet. Maybe we can get that in over the next few weeks. I’m big on goals and planning, and I’m pretty much right on target for the year. Anyway, before I get started running down that path, I’ll get back to today&#821...

It’s been another great week hasn’t it! I’m Marty and I’d like to thank you for joining us again here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  This week let’s spend a few minutes on controlling expenses.  I had a conversation last week with a V.P. of Op’s about a facility that had had over 1000 short on truck cases the previous week.  That’s a huge error ratio and creates a very real expense to t...

Hi all, it’s Thanksgiving here in the states, a time to spend with family and friends, a time to slow down a bit and reflect on what is really important in our lives and be thankful for what ever that is.  We’re working on a few great episodes with some long-time listener’s I consider subject matter experts in the coming weeks that I’m super excited about. But for today, well, I have a few q...

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty and I thought we’d talk about finding work today, something that’s not always easy. Over the last month or so I’ve received so many questions from job seekers, a lot of frustration with the system and hiring processes, being interviewed, and feeling ghosted, being told your overqualified or under qualified etc. Looking for emplo...

Hi again to all from WAOC, I’m your host, Marty T Hawkins, and I’m glad you decided to spend a few minutes with us talking about our light industrial careers. I was going to speak to logistics today, but, well, I’ve had a few conversations this week that pushed me to rethink that. Oh, and for all the WAOC subscribers out there, I have to apologize for the technical opportunities with last week&#82...

Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career!  I hope you enjoy our show each week and we’re offering up something you can take away from it and it helps you in your career some how or way.  We have a lot of fun sharing our experiences and really enjoy getting to throw in an opinion or two every once and a while!  Don’t forget about our Facebook & Twitter page’s where you can find us @...

Have you ever heard that you only get one chance to make a first impression?  I’m Marty T Hawkins and I’d like to thank you for checking in with us here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career!  Whither you are a Supervisor or a lead, an Employee, Recruiter or an HR Generalist, maybe you’re in Benefits, we’re all some of the first people our new and existing associates see.  We greet them, walk th...

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. How has your week been? Productive, Challenging, Informative, Positive, and Safe is my answer! I hope each of you feel the same way. However, I’ve read about, and spoken with a few people that, well, I’m going to say haven’t had such a positive experience this week. I’ve heard from or read about struggles with or opinions about staffing agencie...

I’ve had several questions about order selecting lately, I’ve been meaning to get to them, and a young job seeker wrote, I’ve pulled orders at 3 companies before so I have a lot of experience, but I’ve applied at this place offering XX dollars an hour and they say I don’t have the experience. It’s a lot of money and I want that job. So today let’s talk about all the different task recruiters are a...

Hey hey, Marty here, and I’d like to thank you for checking in with us here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career again this week. A topic that came up two or three times this week was direct deposit. More and more companies, even small facilities, have switched to direct deposit over paper checks. It’s how we get paid, so I too believe it’s a big deal. And it can be a bit confusing if we don’t...

Hello everyone, Marty T Hawkins with you, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I was looking through the job boards and Facebook groups this week and noticed an unusual amount of advertisements for EPJ operators, and several comments about what does EPJ mean, and do they train, a few asked what kind EPJ. In the business EPJ is short for Electric Pallet Jack. Skimming over the...

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today, I want to take a look at a topic that’s crucial to the success of any business. And it’s a tricky subject, because it comes with so many different angles and things to consider. Hang on, don’t roll your eyes when I say it. Ready, ok, here I go, today I want to expand on retention and reducing turnover in our warehouse...

Thanks for stopping in again, I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career, as you know, where we talk about warehouse, transportation, and our light industrial careers. Anything and everything to do with the manufacturing, production, and distribution worlds as they relate to us as warehouse men and women. I was thinking about stalled careers this week. How and, I guess I mean more like Wh...

 Imagine this: You’re at work, it’s been a long day, and suddenly, a colleague makes a snide comment that hits you in just the wrong way. You’ve been holding in frustration for weeks, and this one comment feels like the last straw. You lash out, words are exchanged, and before you know it, the situation has escalated beyond control. What started as a verbal altercation now turns...

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I’m Marty, and today, we’re diving into two, of the many many, responsibilities that every warehouse and operations associate must understand and accept. Whether you’re a seasoned worker or just starting out, understanding and owning these responsibilities can make a world of difference in your career. We’re talking abo...

Welcome to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career, where we explore the unsung heroes who keep our industries running smoothly. I’m Marty, and today we’re diving into the world of general labor tasks in the warehouse and light industrial industry.     Warehouses and light industrial facilities are really the backbone of countless industries. From manufacturing, product...

It seems, to me anyway, that people are just talking to hear themselves talk sometimes. And I know that’s not the case. I’ve heard so many reasons why people didn’t get hired for a position, and why so and so received a new promotion, why a job pays so little or why a job pays so much. Even opinions on what a job should pay. And a lot of people commenting on background friendly jobs, or lack there...

Hello all, Marty T Hawkins with Warehouse and Operations as a Career the Podcast! Thanks for clicking into another episode, this just happens to be our 300 th time to visit and talk about the industry I love, and am quite passionate about! We’ve entertained many guests over the years, order selectors, driver helpers, forklift operators, pallet runners, over the road truck drivers, warehouse leads,...