Jobs .. Economy and Business-Alep .. Customs officer
Education programmes of job

Nature of work

Customs officer performs general activities such as:
  • checking baggage, passengers and vehicles for smuggle things
  • checking documentation relating to imported and exported items
  • writing reports about smuggled things
  • detecting drug and alcohol smugglers
 
Customs officer has extra responsibilities
  • He may provide a consultant service in airports due to their experience
  •  He may arrest some passengers due to carrying chargeable items
  •  He may attend court
  •  He may involve in searching ships or aircrafts
  •  He may prevent aircrafts from flying without permission

Environment of work

  • Customs officer works in ports and airports in their own offices
  • Customs officer works in noisy and dangerous circumstances
  • Customs officer works daily and even at weekends
  • Customs officer  works with qualified team work and lead them in an effective way
  •  Men usually who practice this career, but the number of women who is working as a customs officer are increasing
  • Practicing this career may not include travel to any local place

Professional life

Customs officers work with team in public/ private sectors, but mainly they practice their job in public sector in Syria because all airports and ports belong to government
  • Good experience in this field may give customs officer a good opportunity to develop and improve his qualifications.
  • Average salaries for this position around 25000SP
  • practicing this career involves working in dangerous conditions,  consequently the salary may be high comparing with other jobs
  • After having good experience, customs officer continues his postgraduate studies

Getting the job

This work is available to all graduates from Economic faculty (business administration and financial departments)
  • students study the many subjects such as :
Business Administration Principles, Operations Management, Human Resources Management, Total Quality Management, Logistic Management, Financial Institutions Management, Service Institutions Management, and Management Information Systems.
  • customs officer may continue his postgraduate study to get master in business administration or PhD in the same field

Skills

Customs officer should have general skills as following
  • Good knowledge in working rules and conditions that are followed regarding importing and exporting
  • able to notice details
  • Good knowledge in health and safety guidelines
 
Customs officer should have personal skills that helps him/her in achieving the work
  • Good ability in communication and negotiation
  • Good ability to work with team
  • Good ability to work under pressure
  • Confident in decision-making
 
 

Sources and references

Arab standard Classification of Occupations 2008 : alolabor.org
www.prospects.ac.uk
 

Summary

Customs officer has a very important role in ports and airports because he/she has different duties such as checking luggage and passengers for any smuggled items. Also customs officer may search ships and airplanes  or even stop any aircraft from flying without permission