{"id":2277,"date":"2007-03-29T19:51:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-29T19:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2007\/03\/29\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/"},"modified":"2023-07-17T13:19:52","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T17:19:52","slug":"a-premium-on-category-specific-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"A Premium on Category-Specific Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a conversation with a procurement research firm today, we talked about my observations in the recruiting of category managers \u2013 those purchasing leaders who are responsible for the procurement of a specific category as opposed to general goods and services. Categories may include any specialized product or service from electronics to marketing\/media buying to metals to travel services. (lackawanna.edu<\/a>) <\/p>\n

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Based on some research I\u2019ve done, the importance of industry\/category-specific skills is reflected in the salaries offered to category managers. Generally, a qualified category manager can expect to pull in between $85,000 and $100,000 as a starting annual salary. An otherwise equally qualified general purchasing manager makes less according to recent studies.<\/p>\n

But it is important to dig deeper than just the category expertise. You\u2019ll note my prominent use of the word \u201cqualified\u201d in the foregoing paragraph.<\/p>\n

Qualified means having the requisite experience and credentials such as the SPSM Certification. As indicated in the 2007 Purchasing & Supply Management Career & Skills Report, purchasing professionals with the SPSM make over $13,000 a year more than those without it.<\/p>\n

So I think it\u2019s smart to first focus on getting a qualification such as the SPSM so as to give yourself a earning potential boost without pigeonholing yourself into more limited opportunities. Then, after getting such a qualification, if you can find a niche in a specific category, you really can increase your earning potential more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a conversation with a procurement research firm today, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\nA Premium on Category-Specific Skills - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Premium on Category-Specific Skills\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a conversation with a procurement research firm today, we […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-29T19:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T17:19:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-093.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\"},\"headline\":\"A Premium on Category-Specific Skills\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-03-29T19:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T17:19:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Procurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/a-premium-on-category-specific-skills\/\",\"name\":\"A Premium on Category-Specific Skills - 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