How to become a Freight Forwarder: education, training and skills.
What workers in the job actually report about their education, experience and training, the skills to build first, and the stepping-stone roles that lead in.
- 44% Bachelor's Degree
- 16% Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 14% Master's Degree
Not shown: answers with low-precision O*NET estimates, so these shares do not add to 100%.
BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for freight forwarders in the United States (Employment Projections, 2025–35). Among freight forwarders surveyed by O*NET, 44% report needing a bachelor's degree, the most common answer. O*NET places the job in Job Zone 1-2 of 5 (very little to some preparation). The most common answer for related work experience was “over 1 year, up to and including 2 years” (31%), and for on-the-job training “over 1 month, up to and including 3 months” (38%).
What BLS lists for freight forwarders
According to BLS 2025–35 projections data, freight forwarders in the United States typically need no work experience in a related occupation to enter the occupation.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Once hired, freight forwarders in the United States typically need short-term on-the-job training (1 month or less) to become fully competent, according to BLS 2025–35 projections data.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Six steps to becoming a Freight Forwarder
Data Steps 1 to 5 summarise BLS and O*NET data for the role; step 6 is advice.
- EducationPlan for a high school diploma or equivalent
BLS typical entry-level education, 2025–35 projections. In O*NET's worker survey, 44% report a bachelor's degree.
- TrainingExpect on-the-job training
Most common: over 1 month, up to and including 3 months.
- ExperienceRelated experience
Most common: over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (31% of workers).
- SkillsBuild the core skills
Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring are rated most important.
- ToolsLearn the tools
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook.
- CredentialsCheck licensing where you live
Many occupations need a state license or certification. Requirements vary by state, so confirm with your state's licensing board.
What workers report
Data Share of workers giving each answer, O*NET.
Answers with low-precision O*NET estimates are not shown, so a card's shares can add to less than 100%.
Answers with low-precision O*NET estimates are not shown, so a card's shares can add to less than 100%.
O*NET Job Zone 1-2 (Very Little to Some Preparation Needed): Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
What employers require, by BLS survey
Data BLS figures for cargo and freight agents (SOC 43-5011), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey. This TryHired page covers a specialty within that occupation; the figures describe the whole occupation.
- Most common minimum education
- High school diploma
- 89.0% of workers
- No minimum education
- 9.4%
- of workers
- No prior experience required
- 67.4%
- of workers
- On-the-job training required
- more than 90%
- of workers
- Median on-the-job training
- 28 days
- License or certification required
- less than 5%
- of workers, as reported by employers (state licensing rules are separate)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Minimum requirements reported by employers for average performance; individual employers differ. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.
How this page is built
Education, experience, training and Job Zone come from O*NET 31.0 survey data for the occupation. The typical entry-level education, work experience and on-the-job training lines come from BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35. O*NET answers with low-precision estimates are not shown, and an answer is called the most common only when no hidden answer could be larger. Stepping-stone roles use our skill-match score: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- Licensing rules in your state.
- Requirements at a specific employer.
- How long the path will take you personally.
BLS typical entry-level education: a high school diploma or equivalent
Not shown: answers with low-precision O*NET estimates, so these shares do not add to 100%.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.