As part of our ‘career viewpoint series’ for forklift operators, this article will discuss the career progression aspects.

Forklift operation is a very specific niche and hence there is not a huge amount of room for career progression. E.g.: Sales department can have various roles such as sales person, sales manager, area sales manager, national sales manager etc. In forklift it does not offer room for such wide range of progression.

However, experience pays and as with any other job once you have gained some good experience, it may be easier for you to move to the forklift operator roles that demand advance level skills and experience background.

Any workplace that requires movement of heavy object may require a forklift and the forklift operator/s. Some large companies with multiple departments may even have different forklift operators for each of their departments. This offers forklift operators an enormous opportunity to work in various industries and work environment. Such opportunity can help you learn leadership skills and over the time you may find it natural to progress through the ranks of the particular company.

Also, forklift operator knowledge combined with other skills can create great work opportunities. This may include work such as forklift mechanic, forklift sales or forklift maintenance tasks. Most importantly, any skill that is in demand also creates demand for trainers in that particular area. Becoming a forklift trainer can be very rewarding job. If you enjoy the technical side of it then forklift maintenance engineer role can be the way to progression for you.