First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Inform designated employees or departments of items loaded or problems encountered.
• Prepare and maintain work records and reports of information such as employee time and wages, daily receipts, or inspection results.
• Inspect equipment for wear and for conformance to specifications.
• Review work throughout the work process and at completion to ensure that it has been performed properly.
• Inspect job sites to determine the extent of maintenance or repairs needed.
• Transmit and explain work orders to laborers.
• Counsel employees in work-related activities, personal growth, or career development.
• Assess training needs of staff and arrange for or provide appropriate instruction.
• Transmit and explain work orders to laborers.
• Conduct staff meetings to relay general information or to address specific topics, such as safety.
• Plan work schedules and assign duties to maintain adequate staff for effective performance of activities and response to fluctuating workloads.
• Maintain a safe working environment by monitoring safety procedures and equipment.
• Evaluate employee performance and prepare performance appraisals.
• Participate in the hiring process by reviewing credentials, conducting interviews, or making hiring decisions or recommendations.
• Resolve personnel problems, complaints, or formal grievances when possible, or refer them to higher-level supervisors for resolution.
• Provide assistance in balancing books, tracking, monitoring, or projecting a unit's budget needs, and in developing unit policies and procedures.
• Check specifications of materials loaded or unloaded against information contained in work orders.
• Inventory supplies and requisition or purchase additional items, as necessary.
• Estimate material, time, and staffing requirements for a given project, based on work orders, job specifications, and experience.
• Collaborate with workers and managers to solve work-related problems.
• Schedule times of shipment and modes of transportation for materials.
• Quote prices to customers.
• Examine freight to determine loading sequences.
• Plan work schedules and assign duties to maintain adequate staff for effective performance of activities and response to fluctuating workloads.
• Perform the same work duties as those supervised, or perform more difficult or skilled tasks or assist in their performance.
• Recommend or initiate personnel actions, such as promotions, transfers, or disciplinary measures.

Skills

• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.

Abilities

• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

Knowledge

• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

Less than 5 years work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

Washington Annual Salary

70260/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

33.78/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

14,390

Yearly Projected Openings

1670

Personality

Enterprising: People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business. They do well at jobs that need:

• Attention to Detail
• Integrity
• Dependability
• Leadership
• Cooperation
• Initiative

Tools

• Bar code reader equipment
• Box sealing tape dispensers
• Claw hammer
• Desktop computers
• Dollies
• Forklifts
• Glue guns
• Hand trucks or accessories
• Hoists
• Jacks
• Lifting hooks
• Pallet trucks
• Personal computers
• Planes
• Power saws
• Saws
• Scaffolding
• Slings
• Track cranes
• Utility knives
• Winches
• Wrapping machinery

Technology

• Calendar and scheduling software
• Data base user interface and query software
• Electronic mail software
• Enterprise resource planning ERP software
• Inventory management software
• Office suite software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Time accounting software
• Word processing software