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Building a procurement career like a start-up

Building a career is like building a start-up

where you know already the product, it’s YOU!

When starting and long after, you do not know what YOU will be doing exactly… Are YOU product/market fit? What is the demand? What is the price your customers are willing to pay? What features do YOU build? How do YOU scale? Where do YOU invest your resources for the best ROI?

So many questions… if you try to answer all before starting you will never start!

So what now? You start experimenting, develop skills while doing the work, you run after feedback or you look around at the stars in the roles you want. What do they have that makes them successful?

When building a procurement career, if you are fortunate to be in a good team with a good manager you have meaningful career discussions, access to relevant training, exposure, opportunities for learning, amazing professionals around you to guide and mentor.

When you don’t, you stumble and fall alone. There are few Supply Chain schools, some certifications, plenty of online trainings. But DO YOU really KNOW where to focus? And WHY?

I’ve built my career this way. A bit blind, a bit mentored, experimenting and failing. So if I would have an inflated ego I would say this is the way to do it. But I don’t, I always believe there is a better way.

This is what I know, so you have more focus and increased chances.

FIRST, let’s start with what the market demands. These are the critical skills for a successful procurement career.

HARD SKILLS

  1. Negotiation
  2. Analytics
  3. Cost drivers
  4. Demand Management
  5. Planning and Forecasting
  6. Project Management
  7. Change Management
  8. Legal concepts
  9. Market Understanding

HUMAN SKILLS

  1. Communication
  2. Critical Thinking
  3. Creativity
  4. Adaptability
  5. Decision Making
  6. Emotional Regulation
  7. Emotional Intelligence
  8. Resilience
  9. Growth Mindset
  10. Building Psychological Safety

In the next article, we will deep dive in each of them: what they are, why are they important and what are the progression levels.

Interested? Follow me and you will know.

 

Stay amazing!

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