Why bother reading? This article contains 6 recommendations that you can explore immediately to both retain and/or attract talent in your procurement team.
Procurement has a talent problem.
I’ve specialised in procurement recruitment for 8 years and I’ve had this conversation with clients, candidates and colleagues in all 8 of them. Why? Because it’s true.
But I would argue it’s not true in the way you may think it is.
A lot is written about a skills shortage creating a ‘war on talent’. That, in an increasingly connected and digital world, the procurement professionals of today aren’t equipped to tackle the procurement challenges of tomorrow. I disagree. I argue the talent problem is one of detection and selection. Of attraction and retention.
The requisite skills are out there. The issue is that as of today, procurement functions cannot find, attract and retain professionals who possess these skills effectively. My focus in this piece will be on why procurement is losing existing talent to other functions and why it struggles to attract new talent into the sector. By addressing these two things, you can solve your talent problem.
I want to begin with two key statistics that get to the very crux of the issue:
1) Only 14% of procurement leaders express confidence in their team’s ability to meet the future needs of the function, according to a Gartner survey.
2) The CIPS Procurement & Supply Salary Guide 2024 concludes that 58% of those responsible for hiring procurement and supply professionals globally have struggled to find and retain talent in the past 12 months.
If 86% of procurement leaders have low confidence in their talent’s ability to meet the future needs of their function, and nearly 60% of that number are struggling to retain and attract talent at all, it paints a bleak picture for the future of procurement. The numbers are damning.
But why are they so bad?
To address this, it’s useful to split up retention and attraction and examine them separately.
Retention
Like many other professions, procurement is changing all the time. New technology, new innovations and the changing face of global supply chains all make procurement an evolving function. Unlike other functions, it remains unheralded and underappreciated across many organisations. That’s a problem. If someone feels as though they’re spending a good chunk of their week fighting with finance, with legal and with operations – swimming against the tide – it’s hardly surprising that they may consider using their transferable skills (relationship building, negotiation, digital skills, for instance) to parachute themselves into another function.
In addition, progression pathways in procurement can often be narrow. Many people I speak to are only looking – actively or passively – for new opportunities because they can’t progress. There isn’t a move they can make unless someone above them moves first. Another factor at play here can be a simple lack of options for procurement professionals. Emerging areas within procurement like Sustainability, Procurement Excellence and AI/Digital can be potential avenues, but they don’t exist in every procurement function. Moreover, it can sometimes be made difficult for sourcing professionals to transition into these areas and they’re also somewhat fragile. For example, sustainability goals are often benched when budgets are squeezed (for example, see the news coming out of BP this week) and roles won’t always appear at all levels. It varies wildly from organisation to organisation.
Attraction
When it comes to attracting talent, procurement has a PR problem. Ask people outside of procurement what the job entails and you’ll hear things like reducing costs, saving money, signing off purchase orders and policing new contracts. It doesn’t always sound like much fun. Quite often in fact, the answer you will get is “what’s procurement”. At the entry level of the market it’s felt most acutely. Often, unless someone has studied business at university, they’re unlikely to have heard the word ‘procurement’ before entering the workforce at all.
But procurement professionals don’t all study business degrees. In fact, only 31% of procurement professionals recently placed by the procurement team here at Pod Talent studied Business Management or Economics at university. The rest studied in the fields of Science (24%), Engineering (20%), Arts (16%) or didn’t go to university at all (9%). By that reckoning, 69% may not have heard of procurement before “falling into it” – does that story sound familiar? Go ahead, find your own team on LinkedIn and see what they studied. You might find a similar story.
Another stumbling block for talent attraction is more abstract, so forgive me, but does procurement lack a defining characteristic and therefore a defining reason to join? Or, do other functions communicate theirs more effectively? Marketing nurtures creativity, Engineering is for problem solvers, Medicine saves lives, Banking/Legal careers are lucrative. How should Procurement position itself? Who is it for?
Back toward the tangible for the final issue with talent attraction, which is a failure or lack of appetite to recognise and nurture transferrable skills. Procurement and Sales are often seen as two sides of the same coin, a strong digital skillset would lend itself to Technology or Procurement Operations/Excellence (anything involving tools & systems) roles, marketing professionals would likely know their supplier base extremely well (applicable for other categories as well, of course). So why don’t we see as many horizontal moves into procurement as we see moves out?
Solutions
In reality there are myriad things a procurement leader or talent function could try in an attempt to protect and attract procurement talent. I have come up with an initial list of 6 that can be implemented without much hassle. Let’s take a look, maybe you can pick 1 and implement it right away?
1) Be louder on the purpose of procurement: anyone working in procurement will know that the job isn’t just about cutting costs, enforcing compliance and reading/writing contracts. The function has the potential to generate tangible long-term value for the business, champion innovation and act as the driving force behind ESG and DE&I agendas. With purpose comes fulfilment and in a world where particularly young people feel disenfranchised, careers with purpose are hugely attractive. So shout about it!
2) Go on a charm offensive: if people don’t know what procurement is, they’re unlikely to fall into your lap. Partner with educational institutions, utilise social media, lean on emerging topics such as digital transformation and AI to attract new talent.
3) Invest in training and mentoring: upskilling the team you have and keeping them engaged is cheaper than replacing them. That’s not just in recruitment fees – think about how much value is lost when a procurement role sits open for 6 months! Mentoring is great as well. Younger or less experienced team members get to learn, feel valued and have greater insight into where their paths may take them. More experienced or senior team members feel energised and can learn about emerging topics. Personal development at all levels is critical.
4) Streamline job requirements: take a critical eye to your job postings, can you open your team up to horizontal and cross-functional movers? The more open you can be, the more likely you can secure someone incredible who might just bring new perspectives.
5) Open up! Engage with other functions within your business to create greater understanding and to scout for talent. Are there stakeholders you deal with who’d make excellent procurement professionals? Can you explore cross-functional mentoring or less formal relationships to provide greater clarity on what procurement does and why it’s so valuable?
6) Work with an expert procurement recruiter: pick a recruiter who lives and breathes the sector, mine them for insights and always be open to meeting new talent. Sometimes CVs aren’t always representative of what people can bring to a role and a good recruiter can help you find a specific solution to a specific problem. The important thing is to build mutual trust, which takes time but breeds long-term results.
Procurement talent can seem difficult to come by, but it doesn’t always have to be. I hope at least some (surely at least one!) of the suggestions I’ve made are useful and more importantly, actionable.
If any of the points I made resonated with you, I would love to hear from you. You can find me at alex@pod-talent.com, or I’m just as easy to reach on LinkedIn.
Alex McDougall is a Principal Consultant at Pod Talent, a global Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment agency. He has 8 years of experience recruiting in Procurement across Europe & the US, with a particular focus on mid-senior level hires.