ArcBlue Consulting Group www.arcblueglobal.com @ArcBlueGlobal

Careers in Procurement Simon Steele

simon.steele@arcblueglobal.com

6th October 2015

About ArcBlue

We have worked with over 1,000

public and private sector

organisations

100 consultants worldwide with

expertise across the procurement

spectrum

We consistently deliver well in

excess of a 5:1 return on

investment on our projects

Our consultants are professionally

qualified practitioners bringing

hands-on experience

2

We have been thought leaders in

Procurement since our inception

in 1978

We are specialists with a 100%

focus on equipping and enabling

Procurement

We deliver over 1,500 workshops

annually to 10,000 people around

the world

Our assessment tool has been

completed by over 16,000

professionals

Our Products and Services

pQ

The global standard for assessing procurement professionals

Procure to Pay

Gain substantial efficiencies and savings through our P2P diagnostic

Social Procurement

Assisting organisations develop sustainable social procurement agendas

Bench

Transformation

Enabling organisations to develop towards best practice

Dashboards

Best of breed spend analytics solutions to visualise your spend and performance

Advisory

Advice and assistance including process and strategy development

Training

Develop your team with our suite of training modules or bespoke courses

A flexible resourcing approach to manage projects, coaching and categories

eLearning

Accessed from any pc, laptop or handheld device.

ArcBlue Consulting Group www.arcblueglobal.com @ArcBlueGlobal

Developing your Career ‘Placing yourself in the best possible position to

succeed’

• Demonstrable track record of achievement

• Transferable skills

– An ability to apply your knowledge and skill to new situations and

environments

• Broader business skills are in ever increasing demand

– An understanding of what makes the business ‘tick’ and how to align

procurement

– Change management and problem solving skills

• Responsiveness, flexibility, agility and speed

– More enabling and less process oriented

• Strong interpersonal skills

– An ability to build strong relationships and influence others

What do organisations want?

• Read a good quality newspaper daily (or a good news website) to

keep abreast of World and Business news

• Keep a magazine or business book by your bedside

• Work across more than one industry sector

• Work in a different country if you have the opportunity

• Find yourself a coach and mentor

• Take a role outside of function

– Operations, Sales, Marketing, Finance

• …………and of course, keep your technical knowledge fresh!

Developing Self

• Speak at events

• Contribute to publications such as Supply Management

• Join ‘Linked In’ groups and contribute to discussion threads

• Build and maintain an active network inside and outside of your

business

• Take a role in something outside of work

– Association, Charity, Non-Exec etc.

Building Your Profile

• Individuals don’t do enough to develop themselves

• Individuals often don’t know in what areas they need to develop

– Their points of reference are often limited to self assessment or line

manager appraisal

• Applying skills and know-how in a formulaic manner

• They stay in the same role or industry for too long and then find

themselves ‘stuck’ when they want to leave

• Individuals don’t do enough to build and maintain an effective network of contacts inside and outside of the function across

different organisations

• Believing Procurement is more relevant and important than it is

– If you want to be a CEO then time outside of Procurement is critical

Common Mistakes

ArcBlue Consulting Group www.arcblueglobal.com @ArcBlueGlobal

Skills Profiling ‘What are the skills most in need of development’

© ArcBlue Consulting Group 2015 10

The Assessment Standard

• Enables individuals to quickly and

cost effectively assess their

technical procurement knowledge

• Over 16,000 procurement

professionals from over 500

companies across 100 countries

• Used by CIPS for over 10 years

• Establishes development needs

and priorities to focus investment

• Individuals and teams compare

themselves against a range of

benchmarks

• Assessment is via a multiple choice

questionnaire in several languages

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pQ Scores by Region

Note – Y-axis range is 25.0 to 40.0. Minimum score is 0.0, maximum score is 65.0

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PLGFD SBCA RM SFSME SAEA CL PCFA N SPRCM TP EPT PMC SCSR

pQ Database Average France Germany Switzerland UK

pQ Mean Average – Country

Comparison

Note – Y-axis range is 1.0 to 4.0

Strengths and Development Needs

Note – Database of 2536 – UK, Switzerland, Germany, France

Key Insights

Over 60% of individuals possess knowledge gaps in 10 of the 13 competencies

The skills requiring the most development amongst those who have completed the assessment are:

o Contracting and Legal Aspects o Finance, Price and Cost Analysis o E-procurement and technology o Negotiation o Supplier Performance and Relationship management o Supply Base Analysis

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The employment sector possessing the strongest results is Business and Support Services whilst the one with the most room for improvement is the Public Sector (Central/Federal Government)

ArcBlue Consulting Group www.arcblueglobal.com @ArcBlueGlobal

Summary

• Keep abreast of what’s happening in the world

• Keep focused and deliver great results

• Don’t stay more than 2-3 years in the same role

• Work across more than one industry sector

• Maintain an effective network of contacts

• Work in a different country if you have the opportunity

• Take a role outside of function

• By attending this event you can undertake the pQ free of charge

– Email joanna.saunders@arcblueglobal.com and quote ‘CIPS Morges’

– The top 5 results will receive a free log-in to our ‘Procurement Hub’

Summary