Talent sourcing and innovation in procurement

Talent sourcing and talent management are both highly important for procurement. Organisations that fully grasp the knowledge and skills required and take innovative approaches will be the ones that yield the best results.

The role of procurement needs to have status within an organisation. The strongest talent will be attracted if the value of procurement is recognised, roles are considered to be intrinsic to business performance, and it is sold to recruits as a sustainable career choice.

Procurement is essentially an omnipresent function within a business. It touches virtually all parts of an organisation in some way. Increasingly, procurement is being viewed as an attractive career destination, rather than just an area or a department that might be passed through on the way to something bigger and better. Indeed, studies have found that there is a correlation between organisations that offer top salaries to procurement talent and high-performing organisations.

However, whilst recruits are increasingly be sourced from leading enterprises to fulfil procurement positions, many companies are showing that talent sourcing for procurement can be as much focused on the internal as it is on the external.

One way of talent sourcing from within and promoting the status of procurement at the same time is by running job rotation programmes. Traditionally seen as a great way to groom for senior leadership, increasingly procurement is being placed on the list of roles on such programmes. After all, procurement is an excellent place for operational, analytical and collaborative skills to be developed. The benefit of such an approach is that it can work both ways - talent is drawn to procurement as a function, and existing talent within procurement can be exported to other areas of the organisation. The multidisciplinary nature of procurement work is a demanding requirement, but it's also a potential selling point to attract top talent too.

One of the key drivers of managing excellent procurement functions is to realise that its talent management is very much about nature and nurture. It is not just about having the necessary set of skills, it is also about possessing a suitable disposition as well. Soft skills are important to some extent in any role within an organisation, but for procurement they are particularly important. It is through innovative talent management that businesses can ensure that no mismatches occur in terms of the roles that people hold.

The best approach for organisations to take is first to carefully plan and design an appropriate talent structure for procurement. Next, the very best talent needs to be sourced and engaged. At the same time, existing talent needs to be adeptly managed and their skills developed - and, of course, as with any area, retention of talent is highly important.

Talent sourcing for procurement is a blend of identifying the potential of a candidate and filtering through to focus on those that have a genuine interest in it. A degree of social media screening - checking for membership of relevant groups, for example - might be a sensible course of action. Referrals are also a good barometer of a candidate’s suitability. Employee referrals always have some credence because any referee is sticking their neck on the line with a recommendation. Similarly, any procurement consultants that an organisation works with should be in a position to offer trusted recommendations.