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:
- 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.
- 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