How To Become A Road Transport Manager

What Is A Road Transport Manager?

The UK is criss-crossed with a dizzying network of roads leading to all kinds of destinations, from sleepy seaside towns to heaving cities. Everywhere you look, there are shops, museums, leisure centres and businesses – and people trying to get there by road.

Road transport managers have the very important job of running fleets of vehicles carrying either passengers or goods to make sure they reach their destinations on time, safely carrying their precious cargo.

Maybe you’re a people-person, or you like to plan fun trips and holidays so they run smoothly, or you know you’d be great if you were in power. If any of these sound like you, you could go far in a transport management career!

What Does A Road Transport Manager Do?

These example activities may sound confusing when you first read them. With time, experience and training, it will all make perfect sense – and you’ll be thrilled at being trusted with the responsibility to make it all happen.

• Stick like glue to UK and international laws about how goods or passengers get transported.
• Follow regulations around vehicle safety and fuel emissions, and comply with customs requirements.
• Oversee scheduling, and timetabling when journeys will be carried out (for either passengers or goods)
• Oversee the staff for these vehicles and make sure there are always enough employees.
• Manage and motivate a team
• Make good judgement calls on difficult decisions, e.g. weighing up if the weather is good enough to go ahead.
• Organising the hiring and training of new drivers.

Useful skills to put in your CV:

• Good project management skills, with a knack for being able to lead and motivate others
• Willingness to learn, develop and grow
• Great social skills and communication skills
• Good teamwork skills and positive attitude to help people get motivated about their work
• Good eye for details – it’s all part of self-management skills, which help you manage others!

• Strong business and finance skills, because money plays a part in creating a great customer experience within budget.
• Good organisational and self-management skills; planning schedules etc. (e.g. planning schedules)

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School, College And Training

If you want to become a road transport manager, it isn’t essential to have a degree – employers in this sector value lived experience. However, you may need to start off at a lower level and work your way up from there.

If you aim for at least five GCSEs or their equivalent in grades 9-4 including English and maths, you can apply to become a transport clerk or driver worker, and work your way up.

Getting transport jobs like these when you’re fresh out of school will help you understand the secret tips and tricks in the world of transport and logistics. You’ll also learn how all the different teams fit together to get things moving from A to B.

With time and experience, you can then get promoted to become a trainee manager.

With this approach, you’ll be learning on the job as you go. You may also have the opportunity to train your skills further, either with your employers or by seeking out part-time courses.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship schemes are another way into a logistics career. An apprenticeship scheme is a great tried-and-tested way into a supply chain career that can take you places. With a logistics apprenticeship you’ll get training and real-life experience while getting paid for it.

When you’re ready for leadership and management responsibilities, you can be eased into them gradually in a way that fits your knowledge and experience.

Your employer of choice may be advertising apprenticeships on their career websites, or it’s always worth checking the Find An Apprenticeship website.

Degrees And The University Route

If you decide that you want to go to university to help you on your way to becoming a successful road transport manager, there are several degree subjects you could take.

Areas of interest would be:

• logistics
• supply chain management
• transport management
• business management

You would need 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma. You would need 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree. Finally, you could get a postgraduate degree in a relevant subject.

There are graduate road transport management schemes available, and many big providers of passenger transport welcome graduates from a wide range of subjects. This is great news for graduates, because it means your degree choice doesn’t need to hold you back from a road transport management career.

You can be given more responsibilities over time, as you get to know the ins and outs of considering what passengers need to have a successful journey in their chosen form of transport.

If you start off as a trainee transport planner with a degree, or a trainee road transport planning apprenticeship, you can then move onto road transport management.

Once you find your feet as a road transport manager, you could go on to senior roles in transport planning and consultancy. You could also become a specialist in tranport types that really interest you – like road, sea, or air.

• Road Transport Traineeships
• Supply Chain Apprenticeships
• Logistics Apprenticeships

• Transport Management Apprenticeships
• Supply Chain Degree Apprenticeships
• Graduate Transport Manager Jobs

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.