How to Become a Scheduler: Career Path Guide
A career as a scheduler could be a great fit for you if you have an interest in working with computer equipment, communicating with others, keeping organized records of work activities, and striving to increase the efficiency of work processes.
This field can offer a chance to work independently but as part of a team, a consistent work schedule, good pay, and plenty of room for career advancement.
So, if you'd like to know more about the ins and outs of this field then read on; we’ll fill you in on what you would be doing for a living, how much you could earn, and what you’ll need to break into this profession!
What is a Scheduler?
‘Scheduler’ is a generic term used to describe a job that involves scheduling and coordinating production, transportation or distribution in some capacity. For the purpose of this career guide, we are describing the job of a scheduler that operates in the transportation sector.
Education Needed to Become a Scheduler
Having a diploma or a degree in Business Administration, specifically a field related to Supply Chain Management, can be very helpful for this career. Many employers however, will accept relevant transportation industry work experience in place of post-secondary education.
Scheduler: General Job Description
As a scheduler, you would be responsible for using computer software and other methods to prepare the schedules for transportation equipment and operators. It would be your job to assign personnel to the appropriate transportation equipment and routes, and schedule the proper work shifts.
To ensure that everything is running according to plan, you would also be responsible for performing recordkeeping for the equipment and personnel.
General Job Duties
Although your duties as a scheduler may vary from job to job, you could expect to perform duties similar to those described below, no matter where you work:
• Keep track of available equipment, vehicles and crew
• Create, map and adjust routes and schedules to ensure that all necessary tasks are completed efficiently and on time
• Assign crews to equipment and vehicles and distribute routes and schedules for use by operators and passengers
• Monitor progress and adapt routes and schedules to weather, traffic, equipment failures and other complicating factors
• Communicate with and provide support for crew
• Coordinate, schedule and create purchase orders for delivery and return of equipment and vehicles
• Obtain quotes from transport vendors
• Maintain daily traffic logs and perform recordkeeping
• Improve future scheduling by monitoring and analyzing schedule adherence and passenger or freight loads
Skills Needed to Become a Scheduler
In order to perform the work of a scheduler in a competent and effective manner, you will need certain skills, including:
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• The ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships
• Excellent organizational skills
• The ability to think logically and critically and solve problems
• Strong technical and computer skills
• Attention to detail
• The ability to perform multiple tasks with changing priorities and deadlines
Is This Career Right for Me?
In order to thrive in this role, you’ll have to have certain personal and professional interests, traits and other qualities, including:
• You enjoy operating communications equipment
• You can work with little supervision
• You enjoy the idea of having a “9 to 5” desk job
• You enjoy using computer equipment and communicating with others
• You thrive when you have clear methods and rules to guide your work
• You have an interest in workplace and logistical efficiency
• You'd like a career that offers advancement potential into supervisory or management roles
Who Employs Schedulers?
You could potentially be employed by a variety of organizations, such as:
• Municipal transit commissions
• Truck, delivery and courier companies
• Railways
• Airlines
• Other transportation establishments in both the private and public sectors
Scheduler Average Salary Level
The salary level you could earn as a scheduler can vary, depending on the following factors:
• Your level of experience
• Your level of education
• The type of industry in which you work
• The region in which you work
• The scope of your job duties
Scheduler Salary - Alberta: According to the 2013 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, Albertans working in the Transportation Route and Crew Schedulers occupational group earn an average salary of $55,064 per year.
Scheduler Salary - Canada: According to Service Canada, the average salary level of Canadians working in the Transportation Route and Crew Schedulers occupational group is $49,300 per year.
Scheduler Salary - United States: According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary level of Americans working in the Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks occupational group is $47,590 per year.
Career Advancement for Schedulers
If you display competence in your job and a great work ethic, you should see plenty of career advancement opportunities come your way as you start to gain experience. Such opportunities may include:
• Advancement to supervisory positions
• Moving into management or other administrative roles
• Moving into specialized roles, such as advance to analyst or planner
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Work Environment
Working Hours: Your hours of work would likely be normal, weekday hours, with overtime on evenings, weekends and holidays occasionally required.
Work Setting: You would spend most of their time in an office setting. You might work in a small office with simple telephone systems, or large offices, with high levels of technology including vehicle tracking, computerized systems and ergonomically designed workstations.
Alternate Titles for ‘Scheduler’
The following are alternate titles that are used for this position that you may come across in your job search:
• Crew Dispatcher
• Schedule Analyst
• Schedule Writer
• Scheduler
• Transit Scheduler
• Transportation Coordinator
Careers Similar to ‘Scheduler
Listed below are occupations in our database that have similar responsibilities, and/or require similar skills, or be in the same sector of industry, as Scheduler:
• Inventory Control Specialist
• Supply Chain and Logistics Manager
References
Please consult the following resources to learn more about what schedulers do for a living, and how you can become one:
Occupations in Alberta: “Transportation Route and Crew Scheduler.” (March 28, 2013). ALIS website - Alberta Learning Information Service. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
Occupational Employment and Wages: “Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks.” (March 29, 2019). Bureau of Labor Statistics - United States Government website. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
National Occupational Classification: “Transportation route and crew schedulers.” (March 28, 2018). Statistics Canada website. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
Scholarships for Becoming a Scheduler
The “Applicable Majors” section below shows fields of study relevant to a career as a scheduler. You can search for scholarships matched to those fields of study on our Accounting Scholarships and Business Administration Scholarships pages.
Success Tip: Be sure to apply for any scholarships that you even barely qualify for, as there are millions of dollars of scholarships that go unused every year due to a lack of applicants!
Becoming a Scheduler: Applicable Majors
Studying one of the college/university majors listed below can be helpful (or are necessary) for becoming a scheduler. Click on the links to find out what else you can do with these majors!
