England 28/11/2012
To many people a procurement job does not sound exciting, but more and more graduates feel procurement is for them
The idea of a procurement job simply does not feel many people’s heart with joy. After all, who wants to spend their life buying pencils and coffee for the office? There really could not be anything more boring.
However, the world of procurement is far more exciting than that. Those that can land a procurement job with a multi-national, and are good at it, can find themselves in a job for life. The longer they are in the role the harder it becomes to replace them.
The world of procurement is a strange one and certainly involves more than buying paper and pencils in bulk. The big procurement departments are responsible for buying everything from paperclips to plant and machinery. They buy the raw materials for production as well as the Christmas cards. Some of these procurement tasks come round once a year, other are once in a lifetime purchases.
Someone who works in procurement is under constant scrutiny from all areas of the business, so it is not a job for the faint hearted. They are under constant pressure to buy the things the business needs for less. The task of identifying what needs to be bought, when it is needed and keeping track of it all is a huge task.
Over the years, the procurement team will deal with practically every manager in the business as well as speaking to thousands of sales people and suppliers. The longer they are there the better they understand the business and its needs and the more connections they have to get the business what it needs, when it needs it and at the right price.
Finding a procurement job on-line
Despite the importance of these roles, many firms have considerably cut their procurement teams. This means finding a good procurement job is quite difficult, even for a graduate. The team at Sales Target has seen the number of roles advertised drop off, but interest in them increase. The candidates who search their database several times a day are the ones getting the best roles.
Website: http://www.salestarget.co.uk/