As COVID-19 continues to disrupt supply chains the world over, businesses need to have their procurement strategies in order. For those that don’t, a procurement specialist might be your best option.
Procurement specialists can be major headache-relievers when it comes to getting the products you need when you need them. While it might sound like a costly addition to your business, the right procurement specialist can more than earn their worth back through saved costs and added efficiency.
Businesses new to procurement strategizing, however, might not know where to start when it comes to looking for a procurement specialist. No matter what sort of business you’re hiring for, here are 7 things you should look for on the résumé of your next procurement specialist:
1. Experience with GPOs
Group purchasing organizations — GPOs, for short — can be valuable assets for any small business. By leveraging the buying power of their members, GPOs can make it easy for businesses to get the products they need at the right price.
Every procurement expert needs to know how to work with GPOs and which GPOs are right for which businesses. GPOs can differ in specialties and members, so your procurement expert needs to be able to help you figure out which one will work best for your business.
2. Contract Negotiation Skills
The world is full of articles on the most valuable contract negotiation skills, but your procurement specialist needs to be able to demonstrate concrete evidence of their aptitude. While examples of valuable contracts they’ve overseen might seem like good proof, the conditions under which they negotiated that contract might be very different than the ones they’ll experience at your company.
Look for evidence that they’ve dealt with contracts similar to the ones they’d be looking at while a part of your business. Size, distribution range, and type of product are all relevant factors to keep in mind.
3. Efficiency Expertise
It goes without saying that efficiency is the name of the game in procurement — back in 2016, experts at Deloitte predicted that procurement specialists needed to be “ruthlessly efficient” if they wanted to succeed.
The résumé of each and every procurement specialist should include some figures showing how they improved efficiency in their previous positions. During an interview, make sure to ask how they might be able to increase efficiency at your business — their answers could save you money from the day they start.
4. Buyer Training
At most businesses, procurement experts won’t just operate in their own silos. Larger businesses in particular will need any procurement specialists working closely with a team of buyers in order to keep everything running smoothly.
Procurement specialists with experience in training buyers can save your business money well into the future. A team of buyers without a common vision can run your business’s procurement strategy straight into the ground by buying from disparate sellers and creating inefficiency in the process. By instilling buyers with a collective understanding of what’s right for your business, your next procurement expert can keep things in line well beyond their position.
5. Invoicing Mastery
Getting the goods you need can involve high numbers of invoices — invoices that, depending on your business model, might have to be dealt with by your procurement specialist. While invoicing might sound like a bottom-rung concern, it’s being changed by technology just like all other aspects of business, and your business needs to be prepared for how to deal with that.
E-billing is growing at a rate of between 10 and 20% annually, and now even newer technologies like blockchain are opening novel avenues for billing. Procurement specialists need to be well-versed in a number of different invoicing formats and platforms — that’s your business’s money they’re dealing with.
6. Customer Ratings Improvement
The impacts of procurement don’t end on the supply side of your business. An effective procurement specialist will be able to alleviate issues like low product quality, late delivery, and pricing. If they’re doing that job effectively, your customers will notice.
If they don’t include figures on their résumé, make sure to keep searching for relevant customer satisfaction data. Ask them for it, or try and acquire it through references. Looking at customer happiness over time can give you a sense of how their ability to procure affects the other side of your company.
7. Industry Recognition
Organizations like the National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance and the National Association of State Procurement Officials often recognize particularly valuable work done in the world of procurement. While some may be geared more towards public sector purchasing, industry awards should be the highlight of any procurement specialist’s résumé — they let businesses know which candidates have truly risen to the top of their field.
Each business will have different procurement needs, but every procurement specialist should be able to demonstrate some serious areas of expertise. As you hire your next procurement expert, be sure to check their résumé for some of the things on this list — your business may well depend on it.
