View our course catalogue and learn about our approach to providing you and your team with a best-in-class customs education to grow your business and your career.
As the global trade landscape changes, companies need to stay up-to-date on new regulations and technologies. Continuous Customs and Global Trade training and education are essential if you are looking to save your company millions and comply with global trade rules. Our individual courses and diploma-style training programme equips you with the knowledge, awareness, skill and competency to apply your knowledge to work situations independently, deal with exceptions and special cases and train leaders to make powerful, persuasive arguments with C Suite executives.
Keep on learning
Continuous training and education for customs compliance and duty savings are essential for every company. In fact, it's more than just essential—it's a necessity. Without continuous training and education, you'll be missing out on critical information that could help your business avoid costly mistakes and penalties. We know you know that. But do your bosses, the key decision makers also know that? Are they listening?
At Customs Manager, we believe in the power of continuous training and education for customs compliance and duty savings. It's essential for every company, but especially for companies that have never had to deal with this before. We know that you can't know what you don't know, so if you don't train your staff, then you cannot help your businesses navigate through the red tape. It's easy to miss something important when you're not well-informed on current regulations and best practices. That's why continuous training is key: it ensures businesses are up-to-date on all regulations and best practices. Has your boss approved your training budget? If not, call us, and we will help you make the argument and secure the funds.
Then, select us to design and deliver the training for you. Why us amongst all others?
We offer a variety of joined-up courses that - taken together - develop all the essential skills that a customs manager really needs to be a well-rounded professional. They are designed specifically for companies looking to learn more about how they can save money on their imports or exports by understanding how international trade works. They develop a skilled customs professional who can work independently at the right level for the job. These courses will help you understand everything from how tariffs work (and how they can affect your bottom line) all the way to what happens when an item arrives at its final destination. But they go further than that. They develop skills to do the job independently. Check out our course catalogue and tell us in the comments what else you’d like to see.
Training is important for the organization as well as the individual
If your boss is not approving a significant budget for training, tell them this:
Training is very important because it's the best way to keep up with constantly changing customs and trade regulations around the world – as we mentioned above. It also saves duties, which can be a huge expense for businesses. In addition to saving money, training provides business continuity so that even if something goes wrong, you'll have a plan in place to get back on track as quickly as possible. Finally, training helps businesses grow by providing better tools and processes for employees who can then use them in their daily workflows.
Training is beneficial for companies and individuals alike. For corporations, it gives them an opportunity to bring new people up to speed on customs procedures and practices, while also giving existing employees the tools they need to do their jobs better. For employees, it means they can advance their careers while also growing personally—a win-win situation!
If this does not help, e-mail us at info@customsmanager.org. Together, we will sort this.
What capabilities and competencies do customs professionals require today?
There are a unique set of capabilities and competencies required for people who work in customs. They include the operational, role-specific skills that someone needs to do their job well. We believe that a well-rounded professional in customs should be aware of and trained in the following topics:
Tariff and Classification
Valuation
Origin of goods
Prohibitions and Restrictions
Customs Compliance Assurance
Customs IT Systems & Applications
Financial Customs Payment Procedures
Authorisation Management
Importing and Entry of Goods Process
Transit Process
Export & Exit Process
Storage Process
Special Procedures Process (excluding Transit)
Release for Free Circulation Process
There are other topics that merit attention, however, without a well-wounded understanding of these topics, it will be challenging to perform a genuine customs role. We are pleased to be offering these and another topic in our course catalogue. Take a look.
What subjects are missing? What would you like to see next? Please share your views in the comments below.
The right training at the right level
It's important to understand that different team members have different requirements when it comes to how much training and education they need: A Head of Customs needs a different set of skills than a customs clerk. So, training needs to start at the beginning and go all the way up to mastery. Some team members only need to know the basics to do their jobs, while others need to be trained to the point where a customs professional can work on their own. So, for training and education to work, it needs to be given at the right level.
But how do you determine the right level for you and your staff?
We've come up with a simple way to find the right level for your staff members. We call these the "Proficiency level," and this is shown in all of our training.
The first level is called "Awareness." This kind of training is great for people who are just starting out or for staff from other departments who want to understand how the board works but don't want to go too deep.
The second level is called "Trained." We think this is the right training for senior executives, assistant managers, and people who already know a little bit about the subject but want to learn more. Join our training at this level if you want to learn how to use what you've learned in a business setting and if your goal is to be able to work on your own in "standard" situations. For operational excellence, choose level 2.
The Proficiency level 3 training is for experienced and specialized managers who want to learn more about a subject or want to learn more about a specific subject in depth. This training is perfect if you want to learn how to handle and deal with exceptions and special cases on your own. You will also learn how to make effective presentations about customs in a way that supports and grows your audience. Managers, Senior Managers or Associate Directors will benefit much from this level.
Proficiency level 4 is for the Heads of Customs or Customs Directors – it is the Expert level. At this level, we will train you to speak about customs at the C Suite level and promote successful change and influence key decision-makers. We will train you to be able to speak in-depth about what you know (and to summarize it succinctly for the next Board meeting), but also to connect your knowledge to the bigger picture (e.g. trade facilitation, supply chain, safety and security, finances, risk etc.) which matters to senior leadership. At this level, we will teach you how to give independent and custom advice when answering questions from inside or outside the company. You will learn how to back up your arguments with relevant information in order to make them context-specific.
What do you think about these levels? Which level is the most relevant for you? Do you have a different way to consider “levels”? Please share your views in a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.
What “Proficiency level” is my staff at today and what level do I need for the role?
That is a very good question. And maybe surprisingly, both questions have quite easy answers. We usually suggest starting with a quick self-assessment. The Proficiency Level Descriptions above and the Decision-Making Questionnaire (just ask for it, we will e-mail it to you right away) below are two easy-to-use tools that help companies figure out how well each employee is doing with a certain competency right now and what level they should be studying at. We recommend that you have your staff complete this quick, free survey. Send it to us and we will e-mail you the results of
· Current state of knowledge and skill (“As Is” Proficiency Level”)
· Required state of knowledge and skill (“To Be” Proficiency Level)
We will also recommend suitable training for you to advance in your career. Try it now and email us at info@customsmanger.org and we will send you a free decision-tree matrix which will help you decide.
Flexible training options to suit your needs! Why? So that you have no excuse
So, you and your boss are on board and you have successfully secured a great training budget. Now you want to offer training to your staff. Congratulations! BUT, this is when the excuses start, too: The date of the training or the timing is not right for some of your staff. Or some individuals sit around the world and cannot fly in. Or there is another reason as to why it won’t happen. Well, we have heard it all before. But the fact remains, that if you do not upskill your staff, you risk compliance issues and overpay. So, let us help. We are providing you with all the flexibilities so that your colleagues have no choice but to run out of excuses:
LIVE! tutor-led monthly training of all courses (subject to minimal participation) delivered online so you can join them from anywhere
The same courses have been pre-recorded and are available for on-demand viewing anytime, anyplace.
Don’t want to travel and get the bespoke experience? We can come to you for dedicated in-house training.
Want an education instead of one-off training? We offer a Diploma style education where you study over 12 weeks or one intensive full week to earn a recognised certificate of completion and competence in the field of customs (Proficiency Level 1 + 2).
Want ongoing training for your staff? Let us develop the plan for you and train your staff o you can get on with more strategic work.
With all these options they really have no excuse! Get in touch so that we can help you design the training course that fits your company's needs and develop expertise in your staff.
Takeaway
Customs and Global Trade Training helps to make every customs professional more valuable to their employer. By equipping workers with the right skills, they can save your company money, and prevent you from falling foul of international regulations. There is a wide range of training courses on offer, meaning that a good provider should be able to meet your needs whether you just want a bit of personal enrichment or something for the whole team.
Our training courses cover a wide variety of topics that will enhance your competencies and skills as a custom professional, no matter what level you're at. If you're just starting out in the field, we can get you started and up to speed with standard practices and procedures. We can help you easily navigate the complexities of free trade agreements and trade remedies, among other topics. Or, if you've been working in the industry for a while, maybe it's time to take your skills to the next level.
We can design a training course that will help you master advanced topics like rules of origin verification. We think that our training courses are an excellent choice for anyone looking to develop their experience and skill within the customs field. Whichever course fits your needs, Customs Manager Ltd is here to help. Contact us today