TriadCareers.com :

Name: Geeta Vashee, 42

Title/Occupation: Station Manager / Freight Forwarding/Transportation

Employer: CaribEx Worldwide

Years in Industry: 5

What does your job entail?
"We’re an international freight forwarding company. We help companies that want to import or export goods, including container loads, LCLs (less than container loads) and moving products by air freight. We take the process from the start to the finish. While we have offices primarily in Central America, our company provides service worldwide with agents around the world. We also have an office in China. We have five account managers in this office (on Piedmont Parkway in High Point). They facilitate the shipment of goods for customers, either for import or export, including booking the carrier, completing paperwork and shipping instructions and submitting export declarations, a U.S. requirement. They also facilitate whatever needs to be done at the destinations and handle the customs side. Our traffic manager sets up how things move and that involves lots of coordination, including getting our customers the best rates and service. As station manager, I manage our account managers. I was promoted to this position in February after serving as an account manager."

How did you become involved in this line of work?
"I relocated here from Danville, Va., where I worked for a logistics company."

What training or education is required?
"You need to be proficient in computers and you need to have very strong customer service abilities and be very organized. You need to be able to multi-task and work under pressure."

What does it take to do your job successfully?
"You need to have very strong customer service abilities and be very organized. You need to be able to multi-task and work well under pressure, meet customers’ expectations and have strong interpersonal and communications skills.
You need to be innovative and resourceful and not give up. Sometimes you have to look for what you think is impossible and make it happen."

What’s most challenging about your job?
"Meeting deadlines. We share our customers’ pressures, and we’re on call 24/7. Freight doesn’t stop moving. You need to understand the pressures our customers are under and work with them, giving them personalized attention. As managers, we try to match customers with which of our offices that can best serve the customer. We also try to manage the skill sets of the account managers to what’s required of the account. We’re always balancing the workload. You’re on the go and on the phone all the time because you’ve got so much to do."
What is most rewarding?
"The relationships you build with vendors and customers and helping them. We make it happen."

Any advice for someone interested?
"You need to have high computer proficiency and you need to be familiar with the Microsoft Office Suite software — Excel, PowerPoint, MS Word and Outlook. You need to have strong customer service skills. And international exposure definitely helps."