What is the prospect of customs declaration industry?

A friend of mine has been engaged in customs declaration business since 1999. He has been groping in this business and has been to many places (Zhuhai, Dongguan and Shenzhen). He has done customs declaration in four Fortune 500 companies (the United States, Japan, South Korea and the United States-Japan joint venture). During this period, many customs declarers were recruited. I feel that there are too few high-quality people in this industry now (some people may feel unhappy), but it is true.

The main reason is that the threshold of customs declarers is relatively low, many experienced customs declarers have relatively low academic qualifications, and many college graduates have customs declarers' certificates but have no corresponding experience. In fact, the experience I am talking about is not limited to simple import and export customs declaration and inspection, but also includes your ability to handle internal business of the enterprise, such as the communication between the customs declaration department and internal procurement, production planning, warehouse, finance, IT, material control (PMC) and other departments. Many people think that as long as the daily import and export can be guaranteed smoothly, even if the contract can be written off on time, the customs declaration work will be completed. In fact, this is only the basic work of customs declaration, and these are not enough. My friend once met an old customs broker in Dongguan. 1992, I started to do customs declaration. I have been doing it for more than ten years now, but I am still an ordinary customs declarant. The reason is simple, because all his businesses are simple. He is only doing one of them (for example, doing customs declaration for 78 years), and he is not familiar with other businesses, so he has never been a supervisor.

As we know, customs declaration business can be simply divided into back office and field business, in which back office mainly includes the preparation of new contract materials (as well as the confirmation of specific order quantity, model category, BOM information and unit price by purchasing and planning departments). ), preparation of daily import and export invoices and packing lists, arrangement and reservation of vehicles, entry of commodity inspection data, copying and filing of contracts and import and export customs declarations, balanced management of import and export data, data docking between customs declaration software and ERP software within enterprises, and data docking between customs declaration and warehouse. In some companies, customs declaration also undertakes shipping work, such as booking space, scheduling, transportation tracking, payment management, logistics cost saving and freight forwarder evaluation and development management. (This mainly refers to large-scale foreign-funded enterprises, not suitable for trading companies and customs brokers).

The field work is mainly about contract outsourcing, customs filing, contract modification and verification; Import and export transfer; Handling of equipment tax exemption certificate; Handle mechanical and electrical product certificate and 3C certificate; Inspection of import and export commodities (including customs clearance form, A form and CO form); Import and export site customs declaration and inspection, etc. It also includes an understanding of some latest policies and regulations of relevant departments.

In some small enterprises, one or two customs declarers may have finished all these businesses, but in some large enterprises, the business will be divided into very small parts, and one person may only engage in a small part of them.

In fact, I feel that my business in small enterprises is more complicated and I know everything, but my management ability has not been greatly improved. In large companies, the business is relatively narrow and refined, and relatively good management methods can be learned. You can hardly learn anything in the customs broker (please forgive me for my personal opinion).

So personally, if you haven't entered the customs declaration industry, please think twice; If you have entered and can't find another better job for the time being, please do it well and don't complain. Although the salary is not high for the time being, as long as you are really capable, you don't have to worry about finding a good job.

It is suggested that the landlord should learn foreign languages (especially English) well if he wants to do customs declaration in a foreign-funded enterprise and hold a management position. Of course, the most important thing is to have management experience in customs declaration, otherwise he can directly find an interpreter.

Many people have misunderstandings about customs declaration;

Myth 1: You don't need to know a foreign language for customs declaration: If you are in a foreign-funded enterprise, especially a wholly-owned enterprise (generally excluding Hong Kong capital and Taiwan capital), you need to have a good foreign language as a customs declaration management position. In many cases, the customs declaration manager needs to contact the foreign head office, and the daily mail and telephone contact are normal, especially when it comes to logistics, and many freight forwarders need to be contacted. All documents and materials are in English, and even some companies are indirectly managed by foreign managers. In my company, all documents and mails are in pure English, and it is often necessary to translate some rules and regulations of customs and commodity inspection into English, and all business processes also need to be translated into English. The company has no full-time translators.

Myth 2: You must be familiar with the customs declaration business after a long time. This understanding is one-sided. Because the customs declaration business involves a wide range, if you only engage in a small piece of business and don't understand the overall business, you will never be able to take up a management position. Just because you have been engaged for a long time doesn't mean you know everything about your business.

Myth 3: Just complete the daily import and export customs declaration: that is only the responsibility of the low-level customs declarers. As a manager, it is also necessary to coordinate the relationship between the customs declaration department and the internal departments of the company. The new laws and regulations of customs and commodity inspection should be able to provide effective solutions to the leaders in combination with the actual situation of the company.

Myth 4: The customs declaration business is very simple, and there is nothing to learn: customs declaration is really not complicated, but it does not mean that there is no need to charge. In fact, as a qualified customs declaration manager, you must also have good knowledge of finance and taxation, understand logistics and procurement business, be proficient in trade business, and be familiar with internal business processes and the structure of raw materials and finished products.

Myth 4: Customs declarers have a lot of gray income, just wait: it is undeniable that this situation has happened before, and it does happen now, but the proportion is very small. With the popularization of electronic customs declaration and the standardization of customs operation, it will gradually become smaller and smaller. If you want to make a fortune by customs declaration, please wake up as soon as possible. The so-called good treatment of customs declarers is completely false, which is blown out by those training units in order to defraud the expenses. (However, a small number of managers who have experience in customs declaration management and have good foreign language skills do have higher salaries, and can get 5K-7K). I know that a foreign-funded enterprise hired a customs declaration supervisor with a salary of about 6K before, but it has never been able to recruit the right person, because many people have customs declaration management experience, but their English is poor, and some people have good English, but they have no customs declaration management experience.

It should be said that in the current customs declaration market, the demand for low-level customs declarers is in short supply, but there are not many customs declaration managers with real management ability and experience.

However, with more and more college students entering this industry, it should be said that the overall level will be improved to a certain extent, and more and more high-level customs declaration managers will emerge in two or three years. Therefore, if the old customs declarers want to continue to mix in this industry, they need to step up their time to charge, otherwise they will fall behind.

At the same time, due to the increasing number of customs declarers, many newcomers are willing to lower their wages in order to get a job and learn experience, which also leads to the low treatment in the customs declaration market at present. This is also very realistic. After all, it is a market economy, and supply exceeds demand.

So many things are double-edged swords, and the key is people's efforts.