We’ve observed these and many other trends and adapted our methods to suit today’s market. Our experience of focusing on this industry since 1998 enables us to add value to your recruitment methods in a number of crucial areas.

We know who’s developing the best people, embracing technology most effectively, where the innovators are and how best to find and attract the right people for your business.

Procurement has a special role to play in modern industry, and we can find the people to enhance your team’s capability and achieve your objectives.

We have recently been the recruiting partner for several transformation projects where large PLCs have driven procurement to the forefront of their business.  Such opportunities are always attractive to strong candidates so this has enabled us to identify some outstanding talent in the following areas:

Graduates with 3-6 years procurement experience

At Edbury Daley we appreciate the importance of  identifying the Procurement Leaders of the future. We specifically target ambitious candidates coming through graduate schemes from the leading developers of procurement talent.  The competition for such people is strong in the current climate, particularly as the salaries represent excellent value for the broad range of skills they offer.

Category Management – Indirect Spend

In the aforementioned transformation projects, several of the organisations in question have looked for accomplished Category Managers with experience in classic areas of indirect spend.  We have identified some outstanding candidates as a result of these searches, particularly in Marketing, HR, FM and Professional Services.

IT category expertise in particular is in much greater demand than 12 months ago.  This article is quite interesting: Global IT spending to rise

Senior Sourcing Managers / Global Category Leads

With so many businesses still seeking to effect real change in how their procurement function operates, the need for “heavyweight” Category Leaders with the gravitas and credibility to influence senior stakeholders remains strong.  The ability to develop and implement a sourcing strategy at senior management level is not as easily available as many perceive but we have had great success in this area recently.

Supplier Relationship Manager

As previous readers of our research know Supplier Relationship Management has become increasingly high profile in recent years.  In fact, relationships with suppliers are more important than ever.  There are currently several outstanding candidates looking to move, ideally to an organisation seeking to develop its SRM capability.

If your business needs to identify the best available talent in Procurement or SRM, then it’s time to talk to us about how we can have a positive impact on your recruitment.

The battle for the best talent is on again!

Was the market slowed by the end of the financial year?

The trends we observed back in our Q1 Update have largely continued with the market conditions for procurement staff remaining amongst the best for any profession.

Our observations are as follows:

The permanent market is still busy, particularly at mid level e.g. Category Leadership & Sourcing Manager roles.  Salaries are creeping up again after a flat period and there is definitely competition for the best talent in the busiest parts of the market.  This is great news for both job seekers and of course the recruiters.

After a stagnant period at the most senior end of the procurement market we have been encouraged to hear of some recent appointments at CPO level combined with strong rumours of some imminent high profile moves.

This is potentially very good news as movement at the top end of the market tends to filter down into a busier recruitment market generally, and after a slower period this is really encouraging for those who feel there career progression has been slowed by the recession.

There has already been some movement at “Head of Procurement” level in various parts of the private sector, particularly with small to medium size sourcing functions and most notably in the FMCG sector.   Again this is long overdue and very much welcomed by all those with an interest in the market.

There continues to be a healthy demand for the brightest young talent, particularly those with geographical mobility.  This is attracting ambitious career focused people and Chris McGowan has been particularly active identifying the cream of the “graduate plus 2-6 years experience” pool for some of our key clients.

We are currently seeing greater demand for indirect spend expertise than direct, even in some of our more traditional manufacturing clients.

Packaging & Ingredients remain the busiest areas of direct spend requirements for Hannah Jackson in the FMCG sector, but she has also observed an increase in indirect spend related roles since her return from maternity leave.  Hannah has also noted that the Leisure sector is finally coming to life after a particularly slow couple of years.

There are more Technology, Events, Marketing and Travel focused Category roles available than has been the case for some time.  These areas are currently busier than other indirect spend categories like HR and Facilities which were strong last year.

We are seeing plenty of evidence that Technology spending continues to recover but most of the category specific roles in this area are on a permanent rather than interim basis.   So there is real competition for the best full time staff but interim rates have yet to recover and there are still plenty of good contractors looking for their next assignment.

Last year we reported an influx of public sector candidates onto the market.  This has slowed significantly in 2011.

The increase in P2P and Compliance roles that we noted last year has been sustained but there has not been as much activity in SRM and Vendor Management as there was in 2010. This is down by nearly 25%.

An exception to the generally positive theme is that there was a quieter period in late March and April where the market slowed noticeably.  A number of hiring managers we spoke to suggested this was principally due to the end of the financial year and associated budgetary constraints.

There was certainly some evidence that recruitment processes slowed in the run up to this period and it was compounded by the Easter holidays being closely followed by the Royal Wedding.  This prompted a number of people to take time off in between the bank holidays which also caused delays to recruitment processes.

Day rates and interim margins are yet to recover to pre recession levels but there is evidence that there is less downward pressure on rates and margins than there has been.  It will be interesting to see when day rates really start to recover.  We doubt there will be significant improvement this year.

There has been a noticeable increase in demand for experienced Consultants from a broad range of different Advisory businesses, whether they are delivery focused procurement roles with niche players or supply chain strategies and systems roles with the international consulting businesses.  This had been anticipated since early last year and is now happening across the sector.

There appears to be a little more freedom on salaries than has been the case for the last couple of years with some businesses more willing to flex budgets to attract the best talent.  We still have some way to go for this to be the norm as it was 2-3 years ago but again this is another sign that market conditions, particularly in terms of salaries and competition for the best talent, are returning to pre recession characteristics.

So in summary we would say that the underlying market trends are positive, building on the upturn experienced in the last nine months, but we estimate that the slower period we describe above reduced activity by up to 15% over the period in question.

We welcome your comments or feedback on any of the issues raised in this article.  You can post them here http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/category/news/

If you would like advice on identifying the best available procurement talent for your organisation please contact Andrew Daley on 0161 776 4603 or via andrew@edburydaley.com

If you are looking for a new role in procurement please contact Chris McGowan on 0161 776 4605 or via chris@edburydaley.com

Hannah Jackson who specialises in FMCG & Leisure can be contacted on 0161 776 4608 or through Hannah@edburydaley.com

In fact we were very surprised by the figures announced earlier this week indicating that Q4 saw a 0.5% contraction in the economy.  During this period, the demand for procurement staff was as strong as at any time since mid 2008 levels.

Here’s a summary of our observations on the current market trends:

Recruitment activity for procurement staff across almost all areas of private sector is up significantly on the same period last year, particularly in the Electronics, IT, FMCG, Business services and Consultancy markets.

Using our own data, we have observed the resurgence of the permanent recruitment market with a 127% increase in activity between Q4 2009 and Q4 2010.   This is in part due to an increase in business confidence and less pressure on head count.

Demand for accomplished category specialists in key areas of indirect spend like Marketing, Professional Services, IT, Telco, Facilities and Travel is strong, particularly for those who offer the vital combination of stakeholder engagement and change management expertise.

Many Procurement & Supply Chain Consultancies are actively recruiting into their consulting force.  In recruitment terms this is generally viewed as a good sign of an increase in activity and spending within target client organisations, also stimulating demand for the very best candidates.

Fortunately the market is characterised by a large number of excellent people looking for new roles, particularly those who have stayed in the same role during the recession but are now looking for their next career move.

This is also boosted by the availability of many people in the public sector who are concerned about their futures. However there is very little evidence of private sector companies recruiting public sector Buyers in any significant numbers so far.

After a lengthy period of relative stagnation, moves at the senior end of the market are starting to become more regular now. It will be very interesting to see when the CPO market really takes off but we anticipate it being at some stage later this year.  We’ll keep you updated on this next quarter.

The availability of interim candidates is markedly down since the middle of 2009.   In our opinion that particular niche market has now genuinely recovered, and we have already seen evidence of day rates starting to creep back up this year.

There is a noticeable increase in competition for “up & coming” procurement professionals. Such people are often graduates with 3-6 years professional experience and are perceived as being relatively inexpensive by CPO’s given the range of modern procurement skills they can offer.

At Edbury Daley we are specifically working to identify the best emerging talent in the profession. If you are a looking for that next step in your career please talk to Chris McGowan (chris@edburydaley.com 0161 776 4605) about the roles we are working on at present.

Good news for all involved in the FMCG market, Hannah Jackson will be returning from maternity leave on 1^st March. If you are seeking a new role in the sector or need to add new talent to your team, particularly in core categories like Packaging, Ingredients or Raw Materials then you can contact Hannah now via hannah@edburydaley.com

Procurement Systems & Skills Survey – are we in balance? Our latest research topic is still available online.  We’ve already had some very interesting contributions and would really welcome your input before we start our analysis. You contribute to our research here http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/category/surveys/ and also access our research archive which is increasingly popular.

Having difficultly finding the talent you need for your procurement team? Are you facing some of the challenges we have touched on in this market report? If so please call Andrew Daley on 0161 776 4603 to discuss how we can help, or contact him via andrew@edburydaley.com

Our question is whether the widespread use of such technology and systems is creating a generation of procurement professionals who lack some of the critical skills that are required for full commercial competency and agility.

This survey explores the link between systems and core skills.

That was the view of Supply Management magazine when they exclusively reported on our research recently.

“Effective SRM requires installation of competencies, values and behaviours aligned to the delivery against these imperatives and objectives. These competencies and skills are rarely found in the “standard” procurement toolkit.”

David Pomfret – Co-author & Director, 105 Consulting

The data provided by over 300 relevant professionals and subsequent analysis by the Directors of 105 Consulting offers a fascinating view of the subject including:

· What SRM actually means in 2010
· What business leaders expect from SRM
· Who is taking responsibility for SRM in major organisations
· What levels of competence exist across the specialist SRM population

Please read the full report here: EdburyDaley SRM jan 2010

105 Consulting specialises in maximising the value delivered from key suppliers through application of strategic Supplier Relationship Management. It helps clients install and manage the right relationship with new suppliers, maximise the value delivered through existing relationships and, where required, install relationship recovery programmes to improve any poorly performing supplier relationships. Learn more here: http://105consulting.com/105/case-studies

Edbury Daley is a niche recruitment consultancy specialising in Procurement and Supplier Relationship Management appointments. If you would like to discuss SRM career opportunities or need to identify suitable talent for your business please call Andrew Daley (0161 776 4603) or Hannah Jackson (0161 776 4608) or contact us via info@edburydaley.com

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 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)

Supplier strategies for dealing with increased risk

The impact on business confidence

The opportunities and challenges for procurement

The issues surrounding professional and career development

With over 100 CPO’s & Purchasing Director’s taking part and some excellent analysis we believe this is the best survey we have undertaken.

Please click here to download the Survey results.

We have created a blog page on our website www.edburydaley.com/blog which is open to everyone who wants to debate the findings and any associated issues. You can also find our previous surveys on Salaries and Career Development there.