Somerset Logistics Partners with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)

At Somerset people are our most valuable asset.  Somerset Logistics is and always has tried to look for the best people available.  We have been focused on finding and developing the best sales talent in the industry and training them in the business of transportation logistics.  One of our most successful recruiting areas has come from our local university, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).  We currently advertise our opportunities on MTSU’s Career Development Center Lightning JobSource and have been successful hiring MTSU individuals throughout the years.

We prefer to hire MTSU undergraduates for our part-time sales positions and provide them an opportunity for full-time employment.  Currently, Somerset has (21) MTSU undergraduates or graduates on staff to include the President and Executive Vice President.  We will continue to increase our number of MTSU undergraduates and graduates by offering a superb learning environment for students as well as opportunities for permanent or full time jobs.  Recently, Somerset further solidified our relationship with MTSU by partnering with MTSU’s Business Department Internship Program.  Somerset has over the years provided interns as well as recent graduates a training environment to enhance more than their learned technical skills and develop untapped “soft learning skills”.  These skills can only be really learned in a hands-on sales environment.   In a recent article published in the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal, David J. Urban, Dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University, highlighted several initiatives and discussed the need to also incorporate “soft learning” into the MTSU business curriculum.  Dean Urban stated leading business also wanted more from students and graduates than just technical knowledge. 

“What these business, government and community leaders almost universally say is that today's business graduates need more than technical knowledge. They require a wide array of parallel abilities, often referred to as "soft skills," to complement their technical competencies.

Examples of these soft skills include the ability to write and speak effectively, to think through a problem to a solution, to work in teams, to build and maintain personal relationships, to practice the art and science of effective networking and to maintain a positive attitude toward life and work. These leaders have also emphasized the critical importance of polished social skills and etiquette.

Another conclusion I have drawn is especially noteworthy in this era of emails, text messages, tweets and blog posts. It is also frequently mentioned by the leaders I have interviewed.

As efficient as electronic communication is, there is simply no substitute for face-to-face interaction. Even in the 21st century, business is still about people.

A person might have the manual dexterity to transmit text via a smartphone within a few seconds to anyone on the planet. But if that person expects to be successful in business, success is all about relationships with customers, clients and colleagues. It has always been that way and will continue to be that way. So our business graduates had better be able to humanize their dealings with others and move beyond superficial connections.”

Somerset readily agrees with Dean Urban and has previously written about the need to be the total professional, about teamwork, how to communicate effectively, how to deal effectively with others and how important it is in sales to build trust while providing the best customer service possible.  To excel in today’s business environment an individual has to have a good base of technical knowledge and a superior understanding of the “soft skills”.  MTSU and other schools do a great job of teaching the technical skills.  At Somerset we strive to add to those skills by providing a training program which incorporates those technical skills while highlighting an environment to learn the important “soft learning skills” which can only be gained in a hands-on sales environment.  

Somerset will continue to hire MTSU students and graduates and actively participate in MTSU’s internship program.  We will continue to look to MTSU as well as other institutions as we search for the best talent available.  We take our responsibility to train all our employees seriously and strive to set them up for success in business and in life.  Even if our interns or part-time student employees don’t choose the transportation industry as a profession we feel we have allowed those individuals to have a better understanding of the critical “soft skills” required to succeed in today’s environment. 

Somerset has experienced extensive growth by providing opportunities to decisive, result oriented self-starters who want to work in a sales environment.  If you are one of these people and want an opportunity to enhance your technical skills and develop the “soft skills” to compete in today’s business environment please call one of our professionals.  We welcome the opportunity to talk to you and hopefully you might be able to become a part of our Team of "Excellent Freight Brokers and Independent Freight Agents." Contact Somerset Logistics at www.somersetlogistics.com if you have questions or want to talk to one of our transportation professionals.