BIFA Awards
An appetite for freight
Young Freight Forwarder Award
Virgin Atlantic Cargo is proud to sponsor BIFA’s Young Freight
Young Freight Forwarder of the Year fi nalist Jordan Prangnell began working in logistics while studying business at university. His father was a supply chain director for a fashion brand and Jordan’s interest was sparked during a placement there
determination to keep the newly formed team intact.” Jordan was named colleague of the year in 2021 during this period and continues to invest time, energy – and that positive attitude – in developing the CS team. He would advise those new to logistics to avoid perfectionism, and instead focus on fi nding the best solutions possible. “Try to document what you learn as you go along – and always ask questions to your peers, even if you think the answers may be obvious,” he added. Forwarder Award to recognise and encourage the next generation of industry leaders. As well as rewarding the progress of the best young people, this award helps to highlight the vital role freight forwarders play in the growth and development of the industry. VAC recognises the importance of developing and retaining talented young people and is confident this award will help to attract more recruits that want to build a future career in a sector that is so important to the economy and international trade.
“I went from picking orders in the warehouse, to working in the of fi ce, where I started to communicate with freight forwarders. This experience gave me the appetite for the industry,” Jordan Prangnell recalled. He joined Ligentia as an intern one summer and stayed on two days a week during his fi nal year of studies, joining full-time as an assistant solutions engineer after graduating. Among the highlights of his career so far is a six-month stint in Hong Kong on secondment with a Ligentia customer. On returning to the UK, Jordan became a customer experience manager, and now leads Ligentia’s Customer Success (CS) team, which has developed service level agreements that have dramatically improved the company’s response times. The team’s best practices have been implemented across the business.
“ Jordan leads Ligentia’s Customer Success team, which has developed service level agreements that have dramatically improved the company’s response times
“We built the CS team in April 2020 and were sent to work from home a couple of weeks later [because of COVID-19],” Jordan continued. “It took a lot of hard work, grit, positivity, long hours and
Spreading the word
Apprentice of the Year Award
succeed in his career to date, Elliot commented: “I am naturally quite a motivated person. I always try to do my best at everything, whether that is at work or in the gym. “I am quite goal-driven, too; I like setting targets and making sure I achieve them all. If you set yourself small day-to-day goals, they build up to quite a lot of progress over time.” Seetec Outsource Training & Skills is a leading provider of innovative training, education and recruitment. Seetec Outsource has delivered thousands of successful programmes to a range of small and large organisations nationwide and helped many people into employment. Seetec Outsource provides apprenticeships and traineeships on a range of subjects at various levels.
BIFA Apprentice of the Year fi nalist Elliot Haldane has always had a passion for logistics, particularly air freight, and has used that enthusiasm to attract more young recruits
For a start, Elliot Haldene lives close to Heathrow Airport. “There are a lot of jobs in air freight in this area; I got a job at FedEx while I was at school, for instance,” he said. Before starting his apprenticeship at GEODIS FF UK, Elliot had completed an apprenticeship at British Airways, where he worked on cargo. “There were lots of different articles coming into the warehouse that I had never seen before, and I realised how much is involved in air freight. It is often not just a box being sent to another country: we handled parrots, dogs, even cartons of chicks.” His enthusiasm for the industry is infectious and, at the time of writing, Elliot
was looking forward to
showing a new apprentice the ropes. Also on Elliot’s wishlist is to work in event logistics, especially relating to Formula 1. “I love the fast-paced nature of Formula 1, which is very similar to that of the logistics involved,” he said. Asked what qualities have helped him
20 | August 2023
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