January Bulletin – The market for procurement professionals

 The final quarter of last year saw a noticeable improvement in the market conditions for procurement professionals after a period of uncertainty created by the credit crunch.  The early signs this year are that this should continue and we believe the following factors have contributed:

• Improvement in a number of key economic indicators leading to better confidence in the economy
• Procurement’s unique ability to make a case to overcome “hiring freezes” in major organisations
• Greater urgency from clients to make appointments, especially where previous restrictions have applied
• Use it or lose it – a desire to spend budget before the end of the financial year
• A willingness to “get on with it” after a period of uncertainty
• Greater demands from senior management on procurement to deliver results  

The interim market also improved after a quiet summer with less availability of candidates than the first half of the year, although there remains some pressure on both contractors pay and recruiters margins.  The recovery in the interim market is due to:

• The need for additional resource when permanent head count is restricted
• The flexibility interim managers offer in uncertain market conditions
• The success many organisations have had in “squeezing” interim costs

At EdburyDaley we have been particularly active in the recruitment of senior category roles, head’s of function, vendor management/SRM and several international leadership appointments on both an interim and permanent basis during this time. If you have a key role in your team that needs a high calibre candidate then please talk to Andrew Daley, Charlie Bolam or Hannah Jackson.  Contact details here: http://www.edburydaley.com/contact2/

News

The latest EdburyDaley research project into The Importance of Supplier Relationship Management will be published next week.  With analysis from the Director’s of 105 Consulting we are confident that it’s the best survey we’ve produced yet. There are some fascinating comments on the subject and significant evidence that the standard of SRM capability can be improved upon in several different ways.

To register to receive a copy of the survey results, please e mail info@edburydaley.com

We have already received a number of positive comments about the analysis in our SRM research.  Several people have asked if they can use our data in their own work whilst others have included it in presentations.

What is clear is that specialists in Supplier Relationship Management and/or Vendor Management arena are aware of the key issues we have raised.

Some of the positive comments include:

From an interim SRM specialist: I have just finished reading the report and wanted to congratulate you on a very interesting piece of work. Clearly there is a great opportunity in the SRM arena…

From the SRM leader of a major finance business: I really enjoyed reading this report, particularly as I am personally responsible for leading a project within my organisation to address the specific issues you raised. You certainly have given me a useful reference point that I will use to ensure that I continue to progress in the right direction.

 If you are aware of any organizations with what you consider to be a “best in class” to SRM, can you please let me know as I would welcome the opportunity to speak to them? 

What do you think?  Please contribute to the debate here.

Comments from the SRM lead of a major technology organisation: I’m in full agreement with the findings.  Whilst establishing a new SRM function at my current employer over the past 18 months I sought to find best practice at other organisations and have been surprised that very little exists beyond the basics.  

Having now set up and executed SRM basic performance measurement through to relationship management / governance and the pursuit of value through managing relationships we are very pleased with the impact its having within the business and our key suppliers.

 A high profile consultancy business with a genuinely global client base approached us recently for assistance with making a number of appointments, ideally on a temporary basis, with a view to taking the best candidates on as permanent members of staff. They asked us about market conditions and this is what we told them:

The contract market has been slow for much of the year with downward pressure on day rates. There are still a number of good contractors without work at the moment so employing good procurement people on an interim basis shouldn’t present any problems, but these people typically are not looking to go permanent at £50k.

The permanent market has been ok but slow this year but we are seeing signs that things are picking up a little and companies are more willing to make decisions about hiring. I think this could be down to improved confidence, and the desire to spend budgets before they are lost at year end.

There remains a great deal of competition for the best procurement people in the £40-£60k bracket for the simple reason that there just aren’t enough good ones at that level.  Pre recession there was such competition for these people that in my opinion salaries got a little out of hand and there were examples of relatively junior (i.e. less than 5 yrs experience) but talented people already earning £50k+ in London.

The “temp to perm” market in procurement is limited because the pure interim market has grown significantly in the last 5 years. Current economic conditions dictate that some very good people are being made redundant through no real fault of their own.  Many of these want another “permanent” role so will consider a temp to perm arrangement and these are our obvious target people.

Thank you to all those of you who have contributed to our latest online research project since our most recent request at the beginning of September. We have some very interesting comments, and we are again confident of producing a very informative report.

As with our study earlier in the year into the Impact of the recession on Procurement (the results of which are still available online) we are particularly keen to maximise the number of contributors to the research. If you haven’t had chance to take part yet, this is our final request for you to contribute.

The survey takes 5-10 mins and the closing date is Friday 30th October so please find the time to enhance the value of our research. The resulting report will be published in November.

The survey is available here.

We launched our latest survey into “The increasing importance of Supplier Management” earlier in the summer and received our best ever initial response so thankyou to all those who have taken part already.

With such a positive response already we are confident that we can produce some valuable research and aim to complete the report for publication this Autumn.

As ever the value of our research will be greatly enhanced by maximising the number of relevant contributors so if you haven’t had time to do so already, please can you take part by clicking here.

If you have any additional comments please feel free to contribute to the survey blog, or you can e mail us at info@edburydaley.com

 The Procurement profession is fortunate enough to have one of the strongest job markets in the UK, principally because the profession has become even more important in recent months as demonstrated in our research earlier this year.

Demand remains strong although the market has been characterised by delays caused by issues such as seeking approval to go outside of a company recruitment freeze, corporate politics, budget restrictions and the understandable desire to ensure that the right decision is being made before committing to an appointment.

Whilst there are many procurement professionals who are currently looking for new roles, both as interim and permanent members of staff, the strongest candidates remain in short supply, particularly in key areas of indirect spend.  

Due to the work we have recently undertaken with blue chip clients in consulting, banking, FMCG and retail sectors, we have engaged with a number of procurement professionals who belong firmly in the upper quartile of the profession. 

In particular we have several outstanding candidates with the following expertise:

• Procurement Consulting with emphasis on transferable skills, change & programme management etc

• Vendor Management specialists

• Category specialists in Professional Services, Telecom’s & IT, Facilities/Property, HR, Marketing, Travel

If you would like to discuss any of the skills mentioned or candidate availability, please contact Andrew Daley (0161 776 4603) Charlie Bolam (0161 776 4605) or Hannah Jackson (0161 776 4608) or e mail us info@edburydaley.com

Our research continues to attract significant interest and we are well placed to publish the results later this year with a record sample size.  The data and comments already make interesting reading including this one posted earlier this week:

“Real SRM is the one of the most important factors for success in a procurement role. However most SRM being discussed today is in relation to IT systems and not the real soft skills that will bring innovation and improved business performance to bear.”

Do you agree? 

Our experience tells us that there is certainly a lot of investment in Vendor Management in the technology sectors at the moment, and we have been encouraged by the number of SRM specialists who have got in touch with us about their careers since the survey was published.  Again the evidence is that a technology focus accounts for a lot of the biggest SRM roles.

Are you in an SRM or Vendor Management role with a different category focus?  We are keen to hear from you about your experience and your career aspirations. 

Thanks to all those who have completed the Supplier Management survey already – we had more responses yesterday than in the first month of the previous research into the impact of the recession on procurement, so this is clearly a hot topic.Some interesting points have been made already including this from one contributor:

SRM is the best available tool to ‘unlocking hidden profits’ that derive mutual benefit. However it is a two way relationship and both parties have to be committed to the process in order to optimise and gain the real benefits.”

What do you think?  Do you agree or can you offer a different perspective? Please complete the survey and we welcome any additional comments here.

Andrew 

In the research we completed earlier this year regarding the impact of the recession on the procurement profession, some key issues were raised around supply chain security and how to deal with it. We concluded that “Around 60% (of responses) advocate the use of more stable suppliers and/or investing in strategic suppliers.”

We also noted in our recent blog that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of specialist Vendor Management roles that we have been asked to recruit for in the recent past, particularly this year.

So in this survey we look at how SRM or VM has risen in importance as businesses increasingly seek value from their suppliers, and we examine how expertise and success in this area enhances procurement and supply chain professionals’ career prospects’

So please do find 5-10 mins to contribute, and we particularly value your input in the “other comments” section. The survey is available here.

Edbury Daley is an executive recruitment company specialising in both interim and permanent appointments. If you are having difficulty finding the procurement talent you need for your business, or are looking for a new role, please mail us at info@edburydaley.com Alternatively you can call Andrew Daley (0161 776 4603), Charlie Bolam (0161 776 4605) or Hannah Jackson (0161 776 4608)

We are pleased to announce that we are launching our new research project into The Importance of Supplier Relationship Management.  The questionnaire will be available for much of the summer to ensure we can attract the greatest number of participants so if you want to comment or prompt a discussion before the results are published, please feel free to contribute to this blog.

Vendor Management & Supplier Relationship Management – A Recruiter’s perspective

There’s no doubt we’ve seen a noticeable increase in the number of specialist roles in this area that we have been asked to recruit for.  This has been a trend for the last three years particularly, and we have experienced this most in services sectors like banking, consultancy and particularly IT services. 

Recruiting managers usually want a specialist in supplier management to fill their jobs rather than someone who has done some work in this area as part of a broader procurement or sourcing remit, whilst job seekers who enjoy the vendor management element of purchasing will seek specialist roles in this area.   

There is of course only a finite pool of vendor management specialists, so if demand grows further, we will have some very interesting market conditions.   This could possibly be reminiscent of the strong demand for high calibre indirect spend specialists in the City which drove up salaries, particularly between 2003 and 2007.