Customs Broker
What the work is
Coordinates the import and export of products or commodities into and out of a country, arranges clearance of these products, and advises individuals and companies about international trade, entry procedures, valuation, classification and duties, biosecurity requirements, tariffs and taxes.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Provides organisations with information and paperwork to ship their goods out of the country, and helps businesses import goods successfully by clearing customs
- Provides information to customers on custom tariffs, tariff classifications and concessions, and methods of clearing goods, and calculates storage and clearance charges
- Ensures compliance with biosecurity and other requirements
- Arranges permissions, licences or other approvals to ensure the smooth importation of particular types of goods
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a mix of behind-the-scenes roles: a hospital records office, a strata building and a film production office. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A messy situation ends with everyone knowing who is doing what and by when
- A document, a form or a code is checked and found right the first time
- Someone thanks you for the thing they never had to think about, because you did it
Hard days
- Everyone wants an answer now, and the answer depends on someone else
- Standing between two parties who each think the other is being unreasonable
- A simple mistake in a record that can ripple through everything afterwards
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 599932, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.