What Skills and Attributes are Needed by Humanitarian Logisticians - a Perspective Drawn from International Disaster Relief Agencies

Prior research has developed and tested a theoretical framework that links the skills and attributes of individual logisticians to logistics performance in the humanitarian, military and commercial fields. Using this framework, this paper analyses the job advertisements for humanitarian logisticians working in the “last mile” (as distinct from those based in regional headquarters) in order to assess the extent to which the framework reflects the reality of the requirements of hiring organizations. The paper demonstrates that, although there is broad agreement between the attributes deemed to be important from a theoretical perspective and those sought by practitioners, a number of unanticipated additional roles were exposed that are considered to be part of the humanitarian logistician’s job specification. The implication of the research is that those engaged in education and training of humanitarian logisticians may need to expand their curriculum to reflect the demands of hiring organizations more accurately.