Chances are you’ve heard about Order Selectors before. You may even have a friend or relative who is an Order Selector. If you’re wondering what the job is like, look no further! We’ll give you the inside scoop on what the job is like and what you need to do to become one.

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Job Responsibilities

Also called Order Picking, Order Selecting can have a wide variety of job responsibilities depending on the company or industry. By and large, though, Order Selectors are responsible for transporting products from the warehouse storage units to shipping/distribution areas. Products vary by company and industry, but they are usually stored and distributed in bulk. An Order Selector will be responsible for making sure the exact order is taken from storage and dropped off without damages.

Order Selecting is a physically-demanding job. Order Selectors must be able to pick up and move boxes, skids, or other containers by hand onto hand trucks. In most cases, they will need to be able to lift up to 50lbs, or more. There are some industries where an Order Selector may not have to do much physical lifting and carries light boxes by hand instead. On the whole though, a physically strong individual, with good hand-eye coordination, is well-suited for the job.

Environment

Order Selectors usually work in a warehouse or a large storage unit containing rows of shelves. In these kinds of environments, there may be various machines being run all around the facility, such as several different kinds of forklifts or packaging machines. Safety is very important in these environments due to how dangerous some of these machines can be. This is especially the case for Order Selectors who typically travel through the warehouse on foot.

The warehouses you work in may become very hot or cold during extreme weather conditions. In many cases, the Selector job is in a refrigerated or frozen space, where you will be transporting refrigerated/frozen food products. In every case, preparing for the temperature of your work environment is critical. While the company should work to provide you with adequate temperatures to work in, sometimes that isn’t possible.

Salary

Salary varies by region and company, but according to Salary.com, the median salary of an Order Selector in the United States is $36,456. The salary range typically falls between$32,332 and $40,667. This does not include any bonuses or overtime an individual company may provide. Warehouses certainly have seasons where overtime is plentiful, and may even be required, so make sure to keep that in mind.

What should you expect?

Order Selecting by nature is a very fast-paced, detail-oriented, and physically-demanding job. Fast-paced, in that an order may need to be expedited, and you would need to pick the order from storage in a fast, accurate, and safe manner. There will be tons of heavy bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, and moving.

In most job situations, Order Selectors are given hand carts or pallet jacks to move bulk products with. This reduces the amount of physical strength it would take to move the products and also increases the amount of products that can be moved at once. In the case of a pallet jack, you may not need to do much lifting, as the pallet jack will do most of the work for you. However, with a hand card, you will be manually moving products from the shelves to the cart by hand.

Now that you know all about Order Selecting, want to give it a try? We can help! Contact us today to see if you’d make a good fit as an Order Selector or Picker.