Category: Procurement Hiring/ Retaining Talent
Omicron and the Supply Chain
An already stressed supply chain labor pool Impacted by Covid19 The combination of lockdowns, shift in ecommerce buying habits fueled by government cash injections, an already depleted labor force, and production evolutions with real time issues like a Suez Canal blockage created a perfect storm of supply chain issues. Now, the world faces further issues due to omicron and the supply chain. Let’s start with the labor force. A US Census article from November 2020 forecasts a manufacturing labor shortage due to the average age of manufacturers being 55 and above. In 2015, two thirds of the US workforce [...]
Top Tips for Executing an Executive Procurement Job Search
While there are fewer job opportunities at the top of the pyramid, along with immense competition, there are still various tactics one can apply to their executive procurement job search in order to be noticed by the right decision-makers at the right time. We’re going to break down what to do to prepare for an executive job search, how to best execute, and other tactics to attract top procurement recruiters and hiring executives to your profile. Optimize Your Internal Marketing Assets Before you start, you MUST have your resume, LinkedIn profile and other personal branding assets optimized to help set [...]
Top Tactics to Advance Your Procurement Career at Your Current Company
In planning your procurement career, earning job promotions at your employer is a great way to reach your goals sooner, as opposed to transitioning employers every two to three years. This is especially true if you can get in with a high-growth company that has a strong focus on talent development and promotion from within. Are there certain strategies and tactics you can leverage to help accelerate your procurement career advancement with your current employer? Of course! Remember, a job promotion isn’t necessarily guaranteed year to year. You’ll have to put in the proper amount of effort and work [...]
7 Strategies to Navigate the Trade and Tariff Volatility
Ever since the first tariffs were enacted on imports from China, many retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers have been in a panicked state. The tariffs have increased import prices on various products, leading to the choice for companies to absorb the costs themselves or pass onto consumers. This has also driven down consumer confidence as well, which is contributing to a slowing economy. Even with the talk of rollbacks, both economies have already suffered billions of dollars of losses. One recent study shows the tariffs threaten almost 1.5 million US jobs and more than $180 billion of nationwide economic activity. [...]
Revamp Your Procurement Hiring Process
Is your procurement organization suffering because your hiring process is broken? Are your candidates dropping like flies because you’re requiring them to go through too many rounds of onsite interviews? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then it’s time to focus on optimizing your procurement hiring process. To stay on top of your procurement hiring demands, it’s imperative that you focus on doing whatever it takes to remove bottlenecks that delay your ability to make quick hiring decisions and can lead to a poor candidate experience. Here are a few ways you can streamline your procurement [...]
4 Ways to Enhance Your Procurement Resume
Having specialized in procurement and supply chain recruitment for about 2 decades, I’d like to fill you in on a few must-have elements that you’ll want to incorporate into your procurement resume in efforts to optimize its effectiveness. My hopes are that some of these tips will help improve your job application to interview ratio and ultimately lead to the job of your dreams. 1. Showcase Accomplishments within Procurement and Quantify Results One of the most common resume mistakes that you can make is to only state your roles and responsibilities. You must also list out your accomplishments AND [...]
ASCM Career Coach Webinar – Supply Chain Career Spotlight (Strategic Sourcing & Procurement)
Strategic sourcing and procurement is one of the fastest growing areas within the supply chain discipline. The career paths are expansive, spanning all industries from manufacturers, retailers, distributors and more. The diverse categories of spend cover raw materials, components, packaging and finished goods on the Direct procurement side, as well as service providers ranging from temporary labor, accounting, Information Technology, MRO and many more on the Indirect side. Attend the upcoming ASCM Career Coach Webinar:"Supply Chain Career Spotlight: Strategic Sourcing & Procurement" presented by ASCM Career Coach and SCM Talent Group President Rodney Apple and featuring two guest [...]
6 Tips to Create a Successful Procurement Mentorship Program
Establishing a procurement mentor program is a proven way to attract, develop and retain talent. In a recent Procurement Leaders’ Salary Survey, one of the most important considerations in job satisfaction for procurement professionals is mentoring opportunities. There are many benefits for the participants and the procurement organization, such as: Keep Employees Engaged and Retained Transfer Indirect and Direct Procurement Knowledge and Skills Improve Succession Planning throughout the Procurement Organization Develop a Strong Learning Culture that Promotes Growth Enhance Leadership and Coaching Skills in Managers Improve Employee Motivation, Morale and Overall Performance Promote Collaboration throughout the Workforce Improve Diversity [...]
8 Channels to Find Sourcing & Procurement Talent Beyond the Job Board
If your primary recruiting strategy is “posting and praying”, you are basically fishing from a freshwater pond versus the ocean. There’s a sea of top performers that are typically content in their current roles and rarely surfing the job boards, so if you think you’re going to find strong procurement talent through a job advertisement, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. To keep up with hiring demands in a tightening labor market, you’ll need to expand your candidate sourcing tactics beyond job postings in order to discover and land the strongest, most qualified individuals. Here are a few candidate [...]
Creating an Effective Procurement Leadership Development Program (PLDP)
PURPOSE OF A PROCUREMENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM - Market your procurement organization as an industry leader that provides its employees with the ability to accelerate learning, skills and leadership acumen. - Enhance employees thought leadership and critical thinking abilities so they begin to think and act like procurement general managers. - Provide employees a head start in different areas of your procurement organization after completing the program. - Attract top graduates from your targeted universities while enhancing employee loyalty and retention rates. - Promote within instead of looking outside your organization for qualified [...]
