🚀 Seeking Guidance: From Military to Consumer Goods Fulfillment 🚀

lostlea·Nov 02, 2023

Hey Elpha family! 🚀

I’m on the cusp of an exciting transition and could use your collective wisdom. I’ve secured an interview for a Fulfillment Analyst role at YETI, and I’m eager to pivot my extensive experience in Federal logistics from the U.S. Air Force 🇺🇸 into this new opportunity.

Here’s a snapshot of my journey:

📊 Managed $8M+ in DoD inventory, boosting QA pass rates to 98.2%.
💼 Operations & Production Manager with a Master’s in Logistics and an MBA on the way. Google certs in Data Analytics & Project Management.
🛠️ Skilled in ERP and WMS platforms, with a flair for process improvement and strategic data analytics.
🏆 Recognized as Manager of the Year for outstanding leadership.

I’m reaching out to ask:

How can I best translate my military logistics experience to the consumer goods sector? 🔄
Any tips on embracing YETI’s dynamic culture while navigating a hybrid workplace? 🏢💻
Strategies for communicating my experience in: Inventory management & project leadership? 📋
Streamlining operations with tech know-how? 💡
Enhancing operational efficiencies and KPIs? 🔍
Leveraging analytics for demand planning? 📈

Drop your pearls of wisdom, experiences, or any nuggets of advice below. Each piece of advice is a building block for my preparation. 🙏

Thank you for helping me gear up for this adventure! 🏞️

Carpe Diem,

Jackie

Laide·Nov 03, 2023

Hey Jackie, congrats on the interview. Pretty cool experience you have there. As someone who has worked in consumer hardware product development and also launched a physical goods ecommerce company, here are my thoughts: I've never worked in the military (thank you for your service) but my assumptions as to how it translates are: - Attention to detail- Efficient and Effective- Process oriented- Great communication and organizationI'd say have anecdotes where you can communicate how you've utilized some of the aforementioned attributes/skills in your past experience. Some other things you might want to have answers for include:- Taking initiative to solve a problem or making a process more efficient- Working with multiple 3PL and operations partners - How do you use data (orders, returns etc) to help with demand forecasting, product improvements etc- Any experience or understanding you might have on reverse logistics- Comfort with technology tools and your ability to learn and get up to speed with a new tool - Bonus: if you've been able to save money (shipping costs, storage costs etc) without impacting operationsI can't speak to Yeti specifics but hopefully someone else has better insights to share there. In general, when it comes to interviews, don't be vague, don't be long-winded, and don't ramble. Ok to pause, take a breath before answering the question. If you do ramble, always remember to summarize your points and takeaways after every answer. The more specific you can be, the better your experience and that of your interviewer.All the best and Rooting for you!

Iynna·Nov 04, 2023

Thank you Jackie for sharing and congrats on the interview! is this the first one? Typically this will be your first screener HR or hiring manager for that role and they will try to better know about you and why this transition! I think the more you can convey: why you? why now? why them? then you are already a step ahead.I looked up the role and the JD and it sounds like they care a lot about attention to detail as @Laide mentioned already. I think you can definitely discuss your experience in federal logistics for the US Air Force and specifically the work you did that had a direct impact on the business from a $ perspective (use the STAR framework Situation - Task - Action you took - Results ideally a quant metric). for the S when you pick the example you want to give, try to pick one where you can easily show why your work at the US Air Force might actually have some similarities with the setup at YETI for the T: you can explain the task and show how it ressembles what you might do at YETI (look at the JD for that) for the A: you can be specific about the plan you used to solve the challenge, you can bring up these: how you sreamlined operations with tech know-how and enhanced operational efficiencies etc.for the R: that's when you show how it truly impacted the team/your division!It's important to then understand why YETI what is it about it that you like (besides that you might just need a job), and then talk about perhaps some personal experience, eg you're a big fan of the YETI products because of XYZ (perhaps youre an outdoorsy person and you've fully embraced the YETI products as part of your personality).You got this! keeping fingers x for you!