How to start a career in Procurement

As we enter a new year of new opportunities, you might be considering a new career. It’s true that some careers have more appeal than others. An astronaut, a pop star, a footballer - or more realistically a lawyer or a teacher; some jobs simply have the ‘wow’ factors that attract many to these professions. But, have you ever been tempted by a career in procurement?

采购可以提供那些寻求就业的人y benefits including the opportunity for international travel, a high salary, and the chance to help protect the planet by sourcing sustainable goods and services. For those aiming for the very top, procurement is a career that can take you there. Often, the heads of procurement and chief procurement officers have a seat on the board and influence major decisions for their respective businesses.

Since the 2008 financial crash, the need for procurement has become increasingly important. Many businesses require skilled professionals who can implement cost savings through spend reduction techniques to help meet company targets, making it a profession that is in high demand.

所以，如果你想进入'厚实'并开始职业生涯，这里有一些有用的建议让你开始：

Education and industry qualifications

There are a few different routes that you can use to help prepare yourself for a career in procurement.

In the UK, a CIPS qualification is usually the preferred path for many hoping to improve their knowledge about procurement and the supply chain, offering a choice of classroom-based courses or distance learning. This is designed to work around you and how you work best. They’re available at a range of levels – including entry-level – all the way up to an advanced professional diploma.

另一种选择是在采购相关领域的学位上学习，这是在本科或研究生级别。然而，通过硕士学位课程，学生应该研究有关的东西，如商业研究，营销或法律。

Transferable experience

Many skills are transferable to procurement, meaning you don’t always need to start your learning from scratch. For example, if you have previous experience in the finance sector or being a data analyst, you should be able use your knowledge to identify patterns in spending to help recommend business savings.

Likewise, those with expertise in law will have experience dealing with contracts. Speaking to prospective vendors and checking through paperwork to ensure that the terms are fair won’t be an entirely new task.

Soft skills are key

采购isn’t just about your education and experience. It’s crucial to ensure your soft skills are on point to be successful in a procurement role.

Some of the most important skills include:

• Negotiation skills– negotiating contracts with new or existing suppliers can be challenging. Be prepared to tackle tricky situations and find ways to meet the suppliers in the middle. Also, when going for an interview you should have examples of negotiating with stakeholders to hand.
• 时间管理技巧 -good time management is vital to a procurement role in order to maximise cost-savings and efficiency. You should be able to appropriate enough time to tasks, whilst making sure you don’t exceed the time you have allocated.
• Communication skills –confidence is key when communicating with a wide range of stakeholders, both inside and outside of the business. Even in some entry-level jobs, you could be responsible for negotiating contracts worth thousands of pounds, so it’s important to be confident, coherent and succinct.
• A team player –working within a team is important as the decisions you make will be felt across the entire business. This responsibility could range from choosing the hardware your company uses to sourcing the materials needed to produce a product.

准备好努力工作！

Whether you want to become a head of procurement or a senior category buyer, be prepared to work hard, apply yourself, suffer some setbacks, but most importantly, make use of any opportunities that may come your way.

虽然采购不是梦想工作，但对于那些寻求一个好的薪水的人来说，这是一个很好的职业生涯。由于这些原因，它可能是一个值得思考的职业。

And if you are on the receiving end of a career move into your procurement organisation, here is a similar post aboutHow to identify and attract top procurement talent.

By Daniel Ball, business development director atWax Digital