EP 592: Supply Chain Talent Is the Competitive Edge in 2025
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The New Warehouse podcast hosted by Kevin Lawton is your source for insights and ideas from the distribution, transportation, and logistics industry. A new episode every Monday morning brings you the latest from industry experts and thought leaders. And now, here's Kevin.

Hey, it's Kevin Lawton with the New Warehouse Podcast, bringing you a new episode today. On today's episode, I am going to be joined by Camp Jennings, and he is the co-founder at Henry North. And Henry North is a...

search firm and talent company in our industry recently created and founded by Camp. So we're going to dive into a little bit about his experience in the industry and what kind of led him to found this company. And we're also going to talk about kind of what's going on in

the warehousing industry in terms of talent and what to look out for within the market and, you know, maybe how to get your next role too. So, Cam, welcome to the show. How are you? Thank you so much, Kevin. I appreciate that intro. I'm doing well, excited for all things to come here in 2025 and excited to catch up with you today.

Definitely happy to get you on here. Happy to talk about this. Before we dive into the talent side, why don't you give us kind of a little background on your experience in the industry and, you know, what you've been up to prior to founding this company?

Yeah, of course. Would be happy to. So, Kevin, for the past 10 years or just shy of, I've been in the material handling space with a forklift dealership in the southeast, Carolina Handling, a Raymond dealership. I sold for that organization for four or five years and then for the past five years have been on the sales leadership side of things.

leading most recently as a director of sales, a team of 50 or so sales guys across the Southeast, taking those Raymond forklifts, but also all types of integrated system and allied product to market. It's been a blast. I certainly never imagined or grew up thinking I would find myself in this industry, but I, gosh, I tell people all the time, it's such a hidden gem. It's a hidden gem for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. And obviously, you know, selling that type of equipment, I'm sure you see a lot of different types of operations and, you know, over nine years, I think you said there, especially, you know, is seeing the evolution of probably a lot of operations too, and kind of what's happening there within the industry. So, so I'm curious, I mean, you know, going from selling forklifts right now to, you know,

doing a talent company. I mean, why did you decide to kind of make this move and start this new business? Yeah, gosh, for so many reasons. But I think perhaps above all, it was some of the lessons I've learned as a leader in that space, learning that

the importance of having the right people on the team is really the name of the game. As you go to attack your market and to serve your clients and build the culture that you're after internally, it really all comes down to having the appropriate people on the bus, if you will. That is a simple message, but it's one that's so proud, so profound and one that I've really latched onto in my time. Additionally, I saw a very massive opportunity to take that message to market and to help organizations out there to

who are really in the midst of transitioning from perhaps once being a forklift company to now hopefully becoming more of a systems integrator. The type and level and scope of talent that these organizations can find themselves looking to attract today, it's much, much different than it was 9 or 10 years ago when I started. And I think there's an opportunity for us to add some value as a result of that understanding. Yeah.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And you talk, you talk there about the, you know, the difference from, you know, when you started in the industry, I understand years ago to, to now. So I guess tell us a little bit, you know, is it like a gap in the market that you see there in terms of the talent? I mean, what are you, what are you seeing that's, you know, maybe a little, little different and, you know, what's kind of, I guess, created this itch that you, you got to scratch here to this company?

Yeah, sure. I mean, I think the entrepreneurial itch, if you will, it burns from deep within. So it was it was going to come at some point. I think the recruiting piece and the opportunity or gap in the market is, again, as it pertains to the type of talent that.

that I think are making the most impact today as opposed to what once was. I actually, Kevin, posted on LinkedIn today something a bit silly, a bit funny, but very, very real. I said that, you know, a Georgia Tech engineer with loads of charisma, he doesn't want to go tell his friends that he's joining a forklift company.

He wants to tell his buddies that he's joining a systems integration organization that is driving industrial automation. So it's just such a different day. And I think there's a lot of organizations that are still trying to play catch up with that recognition. That's the biggest gap we saw. The other gap is just from the recruiting and talent acquisition side in general. In order to attract that talent, it's so much more than just

finding the specific person or candidate that you're looking for. It's branding, it's top of funnel generation in terms of efforts to attract that type of talent. So there's certainly some opportunity there as well. Interesting, interesting. And now are you looking to focus on

placing talent within, like as you just said in the example, like system integrators, like solution providers, I guess we'll call them, or within like an end user perspective or both? I mean, what's kind of going to be your focus?

Yeah, we're going to start. Great question. We're going to start with the suppliers. And so the forklift organizations, MHE groups, OEMs, systems integration companies, automation, robotics, supplying the supply chain as opposed to the end users themselves. There is such massive opportunity to help.

the end users as well with their talent needs, especially at the shift level. But then you get into a whole nother can of worms, if you will. So I think we have some ambition to get into that space eventually. But to begin, we're going to be doing purely permanent placements into that industry referenced.

Gotcha. Okay. Very interesting. Very interesting. And so from, you know, obviously there's other talent companies out there. There's other like search firms and things like that. So what are you kind of, as you're kicking things off here, what will kind of be your differentiator, do you think, versus some of these other firms that are out there?

Yeah, I appreciate you asking. I think a handful of things. We obviously set out with a load of differentiators, but a couple I'll highlight today. Number one is that we're true industry insiders, true leaders that have walked in the shoes of both the clients and candidates that we will now serve.

We've all worked with recruiters in the past who have none of that experience. And as a result, their attempt to understand the challenges you were faced with in trying to find and attract that top talent is just that. It is a challenge for that person to help and to add value. Additionally, I think we're going to really try to be relational, Kevin, and not transactional. We have certainly all worked with recruiters in the past who...

they just leave you with some type of gross feeling because it's clear that they're chasing that next payday. They're not really curious about you and your goals or your organization and its goals. It is very transactional. I need a sales guy. You got a sales guy. Here's 30 grand. Talk to you. Never. We want to do anything but that. So that's our, that's our mission. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's a great point there too, on the side of,

you know, I think it really is like a differentiator to, to have someone, you know, providing any type of service really that's had experience in the industry, right. That they're providing a service for. I mean, I think that, yeah, you know, and I've, I've certainly, you know, talked to people, you know, now, and also like in my days as a, as a warehouse manager and plant manager where, you know, they're coming and they're trying to do a transaction with you or sell something to you. And,

it's very obvious they don't understand the industry that they're even selling to. Right. And I think that, you know, that creates certainly some, some problems and I think frustrations along the way when you're trying to explain something and then they really don't understand like what you're talking about. So I think that's a great thing that you have that experience to be able to say,

say like, well, you know, this is, this is the reality. Like this is really, you know, what happens and these are really the expectations. And, you know, I've been in this type of role before from your perspective, right. And be able to, to do that. So, so I think that's a great, great point there. Absolutely. Now, I'm curious too, I got to ask you because your name is, is not Henry or North. So tell us a little bit, like where, where does that, that name come from?

Yeah, of course. Would be happy to. So Henry actually is my first name. That's where that came from. The North one is a bit more unique. So my co-founder is Scott Smith. His first name is Gregory. He had no desire to make this company named Henry Gregory. So he wanted to use a different word. Scott's got an awesome baseball career.

He played collegiately. He went on to play in some minor league systems. He played for the famous Savannah Bananas. So he was a really good ball player. He had a coach coming up that used to always, in his very simple ball coach mind, always tell his kids, just make sure you always head north in life. Head north, go north, go north, go north. And all he meant in that was just

To push yourself past what you're comfortable doing, right? To push yourself past the level of complacency, to challenge yourself and the status quo, to head north, to go towards the unknown. And it was just a message that really was profound with Scott as he was coming up and becoming a man himself. And it stuck with him ever since, even though it's such a simple message.

it's stuck with them. It's a post-it note reminder for my co-founder, Scott. So together, we put those things together, Henry North, and we're off to the races as Henry North. Gotcha. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Definitely. I think that's great to be

be, you know, to make sense to, you know, as people are looking for new roles, right? I mean, they're trying to head north in a sense, right? And so I think it's great to tie that back there. Definitely interesting. So now we talked a little bit about the evolution of, you know, jobs that are out there and just the industry in general, right? And you mentioned that

You know, someone, a Georgian tech engineer coming out doesn't want to say, I'm working for a forklift company, right? They want to spice it up a little bit. But we've seen certainly...

you know, some companies, you know, with, with new kind of interesting titles. You know, I know specifically, like I've seen some companies now that have like a chief automation officers, for example, or like heads of innovation, directors of innovation, or, you know, focused on,

you know, more of that automation or robotic side and, you know, just an expansion on kind of these maybe more technical titles in a sense. And, you know, so I'm curious, I mean, what do you see kind of around these titles and what are some of these kind of newer titles that you're seeing companies start to create as job roles and, you know, how are they kind of navigating that?

Yeah, yeah, you're all over it, Kevin. I've seen a lot of that as well. And hats off to those organizations that are pushing themselves to implement those new titles and to attract that unique level of talent, possibly as a result of said title. You kind of referenced that a lot of these organizations are simply getting more technical, especially the ones that historically were not.

And I think those titles are purely a reflection of their efforts to do just that. You're now looking to attract a talent that has that technical aptitude. It's a different skill set that these organizations are pushing themselves to find, at least the ones that are doing it appropriately and are keeping up with today's time and today's challenge.

So I think that's purely what you're seeing there. I think you're going to continue to see more and more of that, especially for the forklift organizations, the MHE groups who are trying to catch up and trying to change the customer's perception of them. Anyone that knows me says, I say this all the time, but a customer's perception of you is your reality. So if you, an old forklift company,

think that you are a systems integrator, right? You've fully evolved from being just being a lift truck company. Well, great. That's cool that you think that, but what if I go ask a hundred of your customers, how many of them are going to tell me that that's how they perceive you? So I think some of those titles that you referenced, Kevin, are in efforts to one, attract that unique skillset, that different talent than those organizations have had in the past. And two, to work more towards getting that customer's perception to match the perception of themselves. Yeah.

Interesting, yeah. Yeah, and I definitely see that, right? You know, from, you know, like a foreclose side and definitely, you know, from...

you know, somebody that was maybe traditionally just like a racking installer, right. Is now trying to get more into the automation things as well. And, and trying to bring that, that talent in to be able to do that and accomplish that. But I think that's a great, great point there is like, how do you, you know, how do you change the customer's perception in a sense, right? How do you get them to, you know, not think of like, oh yeah, well, you guys are the ones that do racking, right? Well, we do a lot more than racking, right?

You know, like, so how do you, you know, change that, that perception? I think that's, that's very interesting there. So, I mean, how do you, you know, if you look at the talent market, right. And you see, you know, some of these, you know,

roles being created more technical roles or you know just in general you know the open roles that are out there I mean how can someone look at those roles and you know interpret like what's happening within the industry and what's happening within the market like what kind of signals does that give us

Yeah, I mean, I think you're all over it with some of our conversation and dialogue just a minute ago. You're going to be able to quickly see and anyone can see that as a result of some of those new and fresh and unique technical titles, you can clearly see the direction that this industry is headed. You can also use titles and the changing of job opportunities, both in quantity and how long they're posted. You can sometimes check the progress that a young organization in this industry is making or potentially lack thereof.

There's obviously so, so many young organizations pushing to get into the automation space. You can learn a lot from the types and quantities of opportunities that they have, how frequently they're posting those opportunities and their pursuit of finding talent. Unfortunately, not all of those young organizations will make it. And you can actually see some of that firsthand just by watching their efforts to recruit talent. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point too, because, you know, there's certainly...

a ton of startups that have popped up in our industry focused on different things, whether it's AI, automation, robotics, all different types of things within our industry, which is exciting to be a part of. But to your point, how many are going to make it for the long term? So if you're looking at some of these roles and there is an exciting startup, how do you...

As someone that's looking for a role or, you know, potentially contemplating working for one of these startups or, you know, new technology companies that are coming out. How do you how do you properly kind of evaluate that and understand like, OK, you know, is this a risk worth taking? We'll be back after a quick break.

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Yeah, it's such a good question because there's so much out there to your point that that due diligence and consideration is incredibly important. You know, I think a lot of it, Kevin, is based on what you as an individual are looking for. Some people are looking for the organization and to be a part of an organization that has been around for 60 years and you know what you're getting into.

Some people are looking for small. Some people are looking for large. Some people are looking for young and possibly a bit more entrepreneurial and possibly a bit more risky as a result of that. So a lot of it's just based in who you are, what makes you operate the best professionally and trying to align that with the organization that you're considering joining.

Beyond that, Kevin, of course, you know, product market fit is going to be super important. But for the most of these organizations, even the young one, there's some semblance of product market fit. Otherwise, they wouldn't have raised $25 million to get to the point in which they are. So more important to me, Kevin, is the people in which you are considering joining, especially in those leadership positions.

Maybe it's my simple mind here, but the people is what it's all about. Who are you going to work for? Can you trust that person? And is that person going to trust you? So that's what I would encourage someone considering making a change today. Yeah, keep the product in mind. Make sure they're going down a good path in terms of market fit, the whole nine yards. But far more importantly, Kevin, it's who am I going to join? Do their values align with mine? And as a result, will this partnership work?

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's an interesting point there too. Like the, the people definitely matter, right? I mean, you see so many times on, on,

you know, how many posts on LinkedIn do you see where it's like, Oh, you know, people don't leave the job, they leave people. Right. And, you know, I mean, you know, it's kind of like this cliche thing that people say, but, uh, it's definitely, you know, very true, I think in a lot of, uh, matters. So that's a great point there. So, but how can, you know, somebody, if they're looking at a role like that or something of that nature, I mean,

How can they leverage, you know, a firm like Henry North to, to be able to help them navigate that a little better? Yeah, I think for the first time, you know, this organization or this industry rather will have a recruiting firm that understands the industry, the players within the trends within and where a lot of these organizations are headed. We're going to know and we'll continue to know more firsthand of the hiring managers and the leadership teams firsthand and,

So I think it's just simply consultative in nature. We're going to try to get to understand these candidates and their goals and add value as a result of what we learn about them. So I think it's pretty simple. I don't want to overcomplicate it. I think we can just be a liaison and essentially helping guide people looking for their next time. Yeah.

Yeah, interesting. And I think it's great to, you know, to be able to have somebody to lean on and help you kind of navigate that a little bit in a sense. And I think, you know, going back to one of your differentiator points there, I mean, I think it's great that you've been, you know, in that position too, in a sense, to be able to understand that and, you know, understand like, okay, well, this is, you know, this organization, yeah, this is going to happen or this is what the expectation should be here. So very interesting there.

I'm curious too, because you mentioned, you know, you're going to start out focusing on like a MAG provider solution provider side of the market. Now, do you see, and,

You know, maybe some advice here you could give us too, you know, for people that are on the end user side of the market, right, or currently, you know, whether it's with a 3PL or a retailer or whatever involved in operations in their day to day, you know, how can they leverage that experience to maybe come to the other side of the table and work for a solution provider?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, such a good question. And frankly, Kevin, I don't think that we see that transition happen as often as it could and probably should. Why I say that is the value that someone that is working on the end users side can bring to the supplier side. It's just so profound.

They understand the perception of the customer that these people and these organizations are setting out to serve. They understand it better than anyone else. So I would, I would just encourage anyone in that position. Maybe you're in an engineering title with one of these end users or an ops leader title. If you're considering making a change and getting out of the warehouse space within the four walls of that warehouse is enticing, would strongly encourage you to consider making a leap into one of the

the organizations that was supplying you, it can be such a massively profound fit for the candidate and the client, for the customer that they would go and join. So yeah, great question. I simply just don't see it happen often enough. Yeah, yeah, I don't think so either. And I think that, you know, going back to what we were talking about, these startups, right? I mean, you see a lot of these

To your earlier points, you see a lot of these startups come out and they're coming out from a tech side and experience. A lot of them I think is interesting because you see them

And they've come up with a technology solution, right? But they're trying to find where can this have a practical application. And a lot of times they find it on the, you know, on the warehouse logistics side, which I think is awesome, right? I mean, it's very cool for our industry. But, you know, but then do they actually have, you know, that in the operation experience to understand, like, how can this really apply and, you know,

you know, is it really something that, you know, if I bring it to, you know, an ops leader, they're going to be like, oh yeah, actually I'm really concerned about this, this problem. Right. And sometimes it's like, oh yeah, well we're going to do all this. And then they're like, well, that's not really a priority for me right now. Right. You know, so, so having that experience on the team, I think makes such a difference to be able to, to understand, you know, not only the,

what actually happening in an operation versus, you know, what maybe, you know, marketing or a book is going to tell you, you know, and having to be able to speak that language too, I think is could be a great value driver for a lot of these organizations. So if you're, if you were like an ops leader, what type of,

do you think an ops leader would, you know, naturally kind of fit into on a, if they were to switch to like a solution provider side? Gosh, yeah. Good question. I think it totally depends on the organization in which they would be joining, to be honest. Uh,

I think getting back into operations is a possibility. But ideally, I think you want to do something that's still customer facing or at least customer interactive because you obviously understand the customers better than anyone else. So something in which you get to put yourself in the shoes of that customer and add value to them firsthand. And that can be so, so many things. But yeah, I think it just totally depends on who they're joining and the opportunities within based on kind of where they want their career to go as well.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great point, actually, because they were the customer right at one point. So they understand kind of those pain points. So very interesting there. So now as we look here in 2025, right, I mean, what does the what does the market look like? What does the hiring market look like? Are we seeing an uptick in hires? What are you kind of seeing out there?

Yeah, fully expect it to be a pretty wild year in a good way in terms of hiring. I think 2024 and talent acquisition, especially in some spaces, SaaS being one of them was really, really difficult. 2025, I think we're going to see a bounce back even in industries like SaaS, but also in this industrial space.

These organizations are pent up and ready to spend money on projects that they have been researching and considering for a year or two. So the suppliers, the people that we are going to serve, they are going to be in a fun situation to then go and take care of that customer demand. As a result, they're going to be looking for profound levels of talent to then go and get those projects over the finish line and then implemented. 2025 should be a very exciting year.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think I'm very interested to see, you know, how that that grows. And I think a lot of people, you know, you were probably seeing on, you know, when you're you're on the sales side, right before and you're, you're probably seeing that a lot of people were kind of

holding back a little bit on the spend side, you know, a little uncertainty, like what was going to happen here. And now, you know, I think that, I think too, we're going to see, you know, people finally be like, okay, like let's invest in these projects, right? And, you know, I guess tell us a little bit too, I mean, how does...

And that kind of, you know, when the pocketbook opens up in a sense, right, and that the money starts to flow into projects. I mean, how does that have like kind of a ripple effect back onto these integrators or solution providers? And, you know, what does that do for like the job market on that side?

Yeah, it should only make the job market hotter and hotter. It's going to put a lot of these organizations in a position in which if they weren't proactively hiring or if they didn't sustain their levels of talent through what may have been a slower year in 2024, they're going to have their backs against the wall in 2025. They're going to find themselves with opportunity and potential for revenue above which possibly they have ever eclipsed in the past.

As a result, they're going to be making a mad dash to attract the best of the best talent that's available.

Ideally, I think the clients of ours, the folks that are going to be positioned to win the most are the ones that stood strong through what may have been a slower 2024. And they still have all 50 of their engineers. They still have all 120 sales reps. They didn't shed any weight through a quieter year. And as a result, I think they're going to be in a position to serve their clients better as we get back into busier times in 2025.

But again, for the ones that, that maybe didn't take that approach and possibly shed weight, they will, um, they're going to be working hard to, to find folks to help them take care of the clients and the business that will be coming their way. Very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting to see like how that all kind of

ties together and the ripple effect through, through the industry. Right. So very interesting stuff with you here, uh, camp and, and really interesting to, to hear your perspective on kind of what's happening in the, in the market and also learn a little bit more about your new company, Henry North. And yeah, I think we're all definitely looking forward to, uh,

more jobs out there and more spend on projects. So it's good to hear that from, from your perspective. Uh, and now if people are looking, uh, maybe for their, their next role or will be in the future here, what's the best way to get in touch with you or learn more about Henry North?

Of course, Kevin, thank you for having me. So I think our website would be the best place for folks to go. It's HenryNorth.com. There you'll find my personal contact information, both cell number and email camp at HenryNorth.com. And Kevin, I would encourage anyone on the talent side to reach out, even if you're not actively looking for a position or looking for a change.

I think it could be good for both sides of that equation just to simply get to know each other. Same for the clients, right? Maybe you're looking for talent today or maybe you do everything in-house. You think, I don't know if we have a relationship or need a relationship with those guys. Would love to still get to know you. I think at some point we could add some value.

All right. Awesome, man. We'll definitely put all that information in the show notes here as well as at thenewwarehouse.com so people can easily find it. So, Kemp, thank you once again for your time on the show today. You've been listening to The New Warehouse Podcast with Kevin Lahti. Subscribe and check us out online at thenewwarehouse.com.

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