Manager for foreign economic activity (foreign economic activity): tasks, duties, requirements

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The direction of activity "manager" today includes a large number of specializations. Each of them requires a certain education, skills, personal qualities. We want to introduce the reader to such an interesting and promising job as a foreign trade manager. Who is it? What does a specialist do? What are the requirements for it? What is the salary? This material will help answer these and other questions.

Who is this?

Foreign trade manager - a specialist who manages the export / import of the company's products or its partners abroad / from abroad.

What is the abbreviation? FEA - foreign economic activity. What is included in this concept? All types of foreign economic activity of the company (economic, organizational, economic, commercial), which are aimed at the world market. This will also include the chosen strategy, methods of cooperation.

Foreign trade managers, therefore, work in companies that intend to cooperate or are already in contact with foreign partners.

Two main lines of action

The field of employment of a specialist is extensive. First of all, the direction of work of the foreign trade manager depends on the activities of the employer:

• The company is busy supplying its products abroad. Accordingly, a foreign trade specialist will deal with issues related to the export of goods. He needs to thoroughly study the foreign market, analyze the capabilities of competitors, find out the requirements for quality, design, and other product characteristics in the country of interest to the employer. In other words, develop an export strategy.
• The company is busy buying foreign products. The FEA Purchasing Manager will be responsible for import-related matters. Here again a rigorous study of the foreign market is necessary. But in this case, it is aimed at finding a supplier, cooperation with which is the most profitable, long-term and safe.

Daily work of a specialist

It will be important to determine what the foreign economic activity manager does every working day:

• Organization of product transportation. FEA, logistics related. Therefore, this employment will somewhat resemble the work of a logistician. The manager finds the most suitable transport, builds the most convenient route.
• Development of import/export customs schemes, interaction with customs brokers (company representatives at customs).
• Working with all kinds of documentation. The most important thing here is contractswith foreign partners. To conclude the most profitable and safe foreign economic transactions, you need excellent knowledge of both domestic and foreign legislation.
• Issuance of permits - environmental, hygienic and others.
• Coordination of prices with partners, control over the flow of finance to the cash accounts of your company. It directly follows from this that the task of the foreign trade manager is also to monitor the exchange rate of world currencies.

Main responsibilities of a manager

Summarizing all of the above, let's highlight the key tasks, duties of a specialist in foreign economic activity:

• Conclusion and support of foreign trade (import/export) contracts.
• Negotiations, business correspondence with logistics partners, brokers on the terms of cooperation. Foreign economic activity and logistics in any organization will be interconnected.
• Supporting deliveries from their placement to receipt by the addressee.
• Control over timely payment for products by partners, transfer of funds to suppliers.
• Preparation of all necessary related documentation for foreign economic transactions - licenses, certificates, permits, delivery schedules, etc.
• Participation in international exhibitions, conferences.
• Monitoring of the foreign market aimed at finding new partners.

These are the main job responsibilities of a foreign trade manager. Let's move on to the next important question.

Specialist requirements

The main requirements for a manager areexperience in concluding foreign economic transactions, established business relations. Specialists who possess both are valued in this field literally worth their weight in gold.

The general requirements of employers come from the job responsibilities of a manager for foreign economic activity:

• Higher education. Of course, technical or economic is desirable.
• Excellent knowledge of a foreign language - a specialist must be fluent in it, read, write documents. Most companies require classical English. However, depending on the chosen partners, knowledge of German, French and even Chinese or Japanese may be required. Not only spoken language is important, but also fluency in specific terminology.
• Knowledge of the foreign market, legislation, customs requirements. Again - in relation to those states with whose representatives the employer cooperates or plans to establish contact. Much attention is paid here to free orientation in positions in the world market, knowledge of the legislation in the field of international trade, private law. A big plus if the specialist has experience in cooperation with customs authorities, logistics companies.
• Experience with business documents. In particular, with import/export contracts.
• Possession of a computer, other smart devices, programs and applications necessary for activities at the level of a professional user.
• Psychological negotiation skills and oratorical qualities are encouraged. It is important if the applicant is not aliendiplomacy. The specialist must also be aware of the cultural characteristics of the country where the business partner is located.

Personal qualities

Having experience in one of the types of foreign economic activity is an important requirement for the applicant. However, a number of personal qualities are also valued. They also help the specialist himself, who is engaged in such a responsible, but also interesting activity. Specifically, this is the following:

• The most important thing is managerial and organizational skills.
• Initiativity.
• Stress resistance.
• Communication.
• Negotiation, diplomacy, persuasion.
• Self-confidence.
• Employability.
• Punctual.
• Responsibility for your decisions and actions.

Professions of the profession

The following main advantages of working as a manager for foreign economic transactions can be distinguished:

• High pay (for experienced professionals, of course).
• The possibility of developing, educational business trips to foreign countries.
• Quite fast career growth.

Cons of the profession

Like all other work activities, this one will also have disadvantages. Let's list the most important ones:

• Quite nervous and stressful work. This is due to the fact that in conditions of uncertainty, you need to quickly make decisions that affect both your owncareer and the development of the company-employer.
• The so-called deadlines are situations when a large amount of work needs to be completed in a limited time.
• High share of responsibility for every action or decision.
• The need to find a common language, to establish successful communication even with diametrically opposed partners.

How to become a foreign trade specialist?

Of course, the best option is to get a higher economic education. The most suitable specialization is "World Economy". Pay attention also to the directions related to commerce and trade.

However, if you already have a university, humanitarian or technical education behind you, then for retraining you can turn to short-term courses at economic universities. Their duration is from a week to a year. These are such areas as "Foreign economic cooperation", "Logistics activities" and others.

Getting Started and Career Growth

As a rule, after receiving a specialized education, a graduate has several ways:

• Find the required position in a small firm.
• Get a job as an ordinary employee in the department of foreign economic work in a large corporation.
• Find the position of assistant, assistant manager for foreign economic activity.
• Achieve an appointment in charge of developing a small international project, supplying a specific product.

All these paths will help you get much needed in this specializationan experience. Of course, one should not hope for high wages here yet.

The most important thing at the beginning of a career is to thoroughly study the global market, do market research, make business contacts and acquaintances.

Since the profession in our country is young, but at the same time quite in demand, the forecasts for a quick career growth are very high. With the growth of the responsibility of the employee, the scale of his field of activity, wages will also increase.

Cash reward

The salary of a foreign trade manager consists of three components:

• Fixed part - salary.
• Interest from concluded deals.
• Annual awards based on the results of particularly successful completed projects.

It's hard to give any specific figures. Salary depends on the locality, and on the scale of the company-employer. And of course, from the professionalism and diligence of the manager himself. For a novice worker, the average wage in Russia is considered to be 20-40 thousand rubles. Experienced specialists, professionals in their field receive about 100 thousand rubles a month, or even more.

A manager for foreign economic activity is a young, but quite promising specialization. There is a possibility of rapid career growth, decent wages. But the requirements for a specialist are quite high. What is unfavorable for beginners, first of all, work experience and established business ties are valued here. However, there are several ways that allget it soon. It is also important not to forget about your personal qualities, because the success of a specialist here depends on his interactions with partners.