Name: Ramona Francis
Job: Customs broker at Platinum Freight Management
My job in a nutshell: A customs broker deals with the documentation for imported products.
My clients could be companies or individuals, like someone buying a wedding dress from overseas. I work from an office, rather than the airport as I don't have to have the item in front of me - customs does that. If there is anything suspicious, I can flag it for customs. I have up to 30 jobs on the go at once; you have to prioritise.
How did you start out? I started off in the industry in accounts. Most people don't know about the job unless they are in the industry - you take a job before it to train.
To gain your brokering license, you must complete three years at TAFE, pass a national exam, and have some industry experience. [Often people] get their experience by preparing the entries for the customs broker.
A great day is: Saving storage costs for clients on an import by having their shipment cleared before its arrival. I also look through legislation like tariff concessions to see if we can save them money there as well.
A challenging day is: If we receive a client's documents after the shipment has already arrived. I need to put everything else on hold to minimise their storage costs and juggle to get it done.
I'll never forget: When we had a customer [saying they were] importing biscuits. When customs inspected the shipment it was actually cigarettes - the customer was trying to evade the GST.
Most people don't know: Most people don't realise how much customs brokers need to know about so many different items. [To clear an item] I have to go into a lot of detail about what it's made of and how it's used. We research how much wool is in a jumper, or the amount of hops in beer, or meat in a meat pie. It's so interesting.
