In yesterday\u2019s PurchTips, I wrote about three procurement challenges in a hot economy.\u00a0 These three particular challenges were all externally-focused:\u00a0 supply availability, supplier service and quality, and upward price pressure.<\/p>\n
But there are internal challenges in this environment, too.<\/p>\n
The biggest internal challenge is acquiring and retaining procurement talent.<\/p>\n
When an economy is hot \u2013 as evidenced by the uber-low unemployment rate cited in PurchTips \u2013 it can be hard to keep employees.\u00a0 Good employees are able to easily find more rewarding jobs.<\/p>\n
So, you might lose good people.\u00a0 A normally bad thing.\u00a0 But, in this economic environment,\u00a0it\u2019s a doubly bad thing.<\/p>\n
You see, losing a good employee in a colder economy (e.g., in 2009) didn\u2019t sting quite as bad as losing a good employee today.\u00a0 Then, the US unemployment rate was around 10%.\u00a0 There were a lot of talented people looking for work at the time.\u00a0 They were happy to get a job that may have paid less than they historically made and\/or work harder than they were used to working just because it was slim pickin\u2019s in the job market.\u00a0 So, you could easily backfill a vacated position with an equally \u2013 perhaps even more \u2013 talented person.<\/p>\n
But, in a hot economy like today\u2019s, finding good employees looking for work \u2013 especially if your compensation package is less than competitive \u2013 can feel almost impossible.<\/p>\n
I think there\u2019s one key.\u00a0 If you are hiring for a procurement position, look for people on the rise.\u00a0 This may mean a smart administrative assistant or ambitious warehouse supervisor who wants to transition into a entry-level buyer role.\u00a0 Or it may mean a buyer who just earned the SPSM Certification who wants to advance to a purchasing management position.<\/p>\n
In a hot economy, people generally don\u2019t want to move to the same job, new place.\u00a0 They want to advance, particularly in the salary department.\u00a0 So, you need to either adjust how much you pay people or the profile of the person you think should fit the vacancy.<\/p>\n
Procurement talent management in a hot economy is a challenge.\u00a0 But I think if you approach it the right way, things are more in your control than the aforementioned external challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In yesterday\u2019s PurchTips, I wrote about three procurement challenges in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n