We launched The Careers in Housebuilding Recruitment Survey earlier this year and already have some very interesting data on the job market, much of it pointing to changes in the way in which people look for career opportunities.  This is of particular interest in the current economic climate with developers facing a depressed housing market yet still reporting some encouraging results. This has prompted the green shoots of a recovery in the housebuilding job market but it is still early days.  The headlines from our research so far are:

85% of housebuilding professionals surveyed so far prefer applying directly to employers than through recruitment agencies

89% of respondents so far prefer specialist job boards like www.careersinhousebuilding.co.uk to the leading generalist job boards

Over 70% find social media like Facebook & Twitter helpful to keep up to date with job news

We plan to publish all the findings from our research early in the new year so if you haven’t contributed yet, please find 5 minutes to complete the 11 multiple choice questions here.

Despite some challenging economic conditions, we at EdburyDaley continue to see evidence that the procurement job market is still in much better shape than most other professions.

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.

In our most recent report into the market conditions for procurement professionals published in March we observed the following trends:

A much improved market for permanent roles

A more stable interim market than 2009

The return of the “battle for procurement talent”

Restraint on salary increases

The apparent recovery in certain key sectors e.g. banking & FMCG

The growing demand for leading edge SRM experience

 Now three months later with the election behind us and fresh concerns expressed in the media about the economic recovery, we look at how the market conditions are affecting procurement professionals and their careers:

The improved market conditions for permanent procurement roles that we observed in March have continued and strengthened to a degree during this period.  Demand remains strongest in the middle market (£40-£80k) although there is little evidence of much movement at the most senior end of the scale. It remains to be seen when there will be real movement in the Director of Procurement / CPO market, but with so little activity at that level over the last two years we expect the big roles to be fiercely contested when they do become available, possibly later this year.

 The overall picture across all professions is stronger, with a leading research organisation reporting in May that demand for staff increased for the eighth month in succession, whilst the availability of candidates for permanent roles is down for the first time in two years.

Last quarter we observed some restraint on remuneration increases including bonuses, pay reviews and the increases in salary people seek to negotiate when moving companies.  This remains the case and in the current economic climate we would expect that to continue but there are organisations that are already having difficulty attracting the talent they need because of an inability to pay “market rate” and it will be interesting to see how this situation develops later this year.   

The interim market is currently in a relatively stable condition compared to 2009, but as we publish this report the real effects of the public sector cuts proposed by the new government are yet to be truly felt. There is a very strong suspicion with some early evidence to support it that spending on interim staff will be reduced, and this will be terrible news for the interim market as so many experienced procurement professionals have enjoyed some very lucrative contracts in the recent past on a variety of public sector projects.

Our fear is that the market will be flooded with contractors from the public sector over the next quarter, many of whom will be coming into a private sector interim market that has seen a substantial correction in day rates and margins over the last 18 months. This will lead to excess supply, causing further pressure on day rates and may prompt many career interim managers to consider going back into permanent roles. The early signs are there, and we have had many enquiries already from people concerned about whether their contracts will be extended or even terminated early so we will be watching this part of the market closely.

Most public sector senior managers that we asked for their thoughts on the subject were understandably reluctant to make any comment on the impact of the cuts at this stage, but one said “all recruitment, including approved vacancies, is frozen, and now has to be approved at a level which will inhibit us from even making the request!” We will be monitoring this situation closely and will comment on the impact this is having on procurement in our Q3 update.

In some of the key private sector industries the story is more positive with evidence that banking, retail, FMCG and leisure have continued the encouraging trends we observed last quarter. Furthermore both the technology and consulting sectors which we expressed concern about in our last report are now recruiting more in procurement and we believe this is a very encouraging sign.

Our focus on the SRM world as a result of our research and the growing evidence of a clear trend towards greater emphasis in vendor relations is proving to be very interesting.  As our reputation grows as a specialist recruiter for the discipline, we are engaging with more organisations and leading professionals than ever before and we expect to see more evidence of greater emphasis in this area in the second half of the year.  We remain particularly keen to speak to as many professionals with involvement in the area as possible. For more information please visit: http://www.edburydaley.com/supplier-relationship-management/ or join our network at http://uk.linkedin.com/in/edburydaleyandrew

There has been some further analysis of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) trends undertaken by our research partners 105 Consulting which is available below.  The findings highlight that whilst SRM is now considered critical to many businesses, it seems value is being ‘left on the table’ through insufficient focus, installation and application of SRM capabilities and practice. To access the report click here: http://www.105consulting.com/main/images/stories/pdfs/srm-practitioner-survey.pdf

Future research projects:

We intend to announce the subject for our next online survey and research report at the end of July and will be inviting you all to contribute later in the summer and autumn.  Our previous reports are available here:

The growing importance of SRM: http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/EdburyDaley-SRM-jan-2010.pdf

The impact of the recession on procurement: http://edburydaley.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/edbury-daley-the-impact-of-the-current-economic-climate.pdf

Welcome to our latest update on the employment market conditions for Procurement and SRM professionals. Since our last update in January we have observed the following:

The permanent market is much improved for Senior Buyers, Category Managers, Procurement Managers and SRM specialists since Q3 2009. There is certainly more confidence amongst employers and the number of vacancies is up on earlier this year and late 2009.

It appears that the battle for talent that was a key feature of the pre recession market is starting again although there appears to be more restraint on salary increases at present. The busiest area is the £50-£70k bracket.

The interim market has stabilised after a difficult period last year. There remains pressure on both day rates and recruiter’s margins but the number of interim procurement specialists looking for a contract is certainly down from Q3 2009.

In both markets there are encouraging signs that some industries which suffered the most last year are beginning to look forward again and make key appointments. The sectors include banking, retail, leisure and FMCG.

 Back in Q1 2009 and through our research into the impact of the recession on procurement (see link below) we predicted that there would be a significant rise in demand for experienced staff from procurement consultancies. They anticipated a busy year as potential clients looked for quick wins and specialist advice on cost base reduction.  This demand hasn’t materialised as much as we anticipated as some potential clients decided against engaging consultants to the extent that had been hoped. 

The technology sector remains quite cautious with a number of hiring freezes still in place and the demand for IT and Telco category specialists from end users has not recovered to the extent seen in other areas.

As we expected in our recent research into SRM (link below) there appears to be a growing demand for specialists with experience of developing and implementing leading edge supplier management strategies. We anticipate demand outgrowing supply in the next 12 months as numerous organisations have realised the value and potential competitive advantage that lies in more productive relationships with key suppliers, particularly as a result of the impact of the recession,  a trend observed last year in the research mentioned above.

We have been contacted by a lot of jobseekers with SRM experience and are in the process of developing a specialist recruitment practice to focus on this area.  You can join the SRM networking group we  have set up here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2837993&trk=fulpro_grplogo

Would you like to comment on any of the issues addressed here? Join the discussion here: http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/2010/03/19/procurement-market-update-–-march-2010/

Links to research reports

The growing importance of SRM: http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/EdburyDaley-SRM-jan-2010.pdf

The impact of the recession on procurement: http://edburydaley.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/edbury-daley-the-impact-of-the-current-economic-climate.pdf

We welcome your comments on how useful you find our research here: http://www.edburydaley.com/wp/2010/02/24/the-growing-importance-of-supplier-relationship-management/

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

 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.

 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 

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.