A Logistics Coordinator makes individual shipments happen. They book carriers, schedule collections and dispatch slots, prepare the paperwork that travels with the goods, track consignments in transit, and chase the ones that stall. Much of the day is spent on the phone and in carrier portals, resolving a wrong address, a refused delivery, or a truck that never arrived. The role rewards people who stay organized under interruption, because a coordinator is rarely allowed to finish one task before the next problem lands.
Judge them on how they handle things going wrong, because that is most of the job. Ask what they did the last time a vehicle failed to show and a customer was waiting. The answer you want includes finding an alternative before informing anyone, telling the customer with a revised time rather than an apology alone, and recording the failure so it counts against that carrier at review. Also test their paperwork instinct. Coordinators who double-check a consignee address and a commodity description before release save far more money than the fastest booker on the team.
Freight forwarders and third-party logistics providers are the natural pool, since their staff coordinate shipments all day for multiple clients. Warehouse administrators and dispatch clerks frequently step up into coordination and already know the goods and the site routine. Customer service teams in distribution businesses produce candidates who are comfortable delivering bad news well. Local recruitment near transport hubs, industrial estates, and ports tends to outperform general job boards for this role, and referrals from your existing carriers can be surprisingly productive.
Ask them to walk you through everything they would check before releasing an international shipment, and see how far they get without prompting. Follow with a prioritization test: three problems land at once, a border hold, an angry customer whose order is one day late, and a driver waiting at your gate with no paperwork, what order do you handle them in and why. Then ask how they would tell a customer that a delivery promised for today will not arrive. Tone matters here as much as logic.
Be cautious with candidates who only ever raised bookings inside a system and never spoke to a carrier or a customer, since the escalation half of the role will be new to them. Someone who cannot describe a documentation error they caught may not be checking. Avoid people who present every past problem as entirely the carrier fault, because coordination is precisely the function that is supposed to catch those. Also watch for discomfort with interruption, since a coordinator who needs uninterrupted focus blocks will find the working day genuinely difficult.
Coordinator vacancies hurt immediately, because shipments do not pause while you recruit. Pitch N Hire helps by letting you screen on the specifics that predict readiness, such as transport modes handled, customs exposure, and systems used, so a manageable shortlist reaches the phone stage fast. A short structured phone screen works well for this role and can be scheduled straight from the pipeline. Keeping every application in one place also gives you a warm pool for the next vacancy, which matters in a function where turnover and seasonal peaks are both common.
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