Are you planning to work in the supply chain industry? Why not pursue a career in procurement? Procurement is one of the many specialised jobs under supply chain category. With increasing economic demands, procurement officers are becoming a major contributor for company’s growth.
Working in the field of procurement means that you are responsible for making crucial decisions, such as negotiating multi-billion dollar contracts, optimising product costs, delivering efficient and innovative operations, and dealing with suppliers.
However, not many people know what procurement actually is. Despite the wide opportunities in this field, there is still shortage of talents. Even those who have worked for years in procurement confess to have pursued the career choice coincidentally, without any former plan or initial idea on how procurement operation works. However, towards the end they do love their procurement jobs.
If you are looking for varied, challenging, and dynamic jobs to develop your management skills, procurement will be a great option for you. Here are the reasons why:
Skills needed everywhere
Procurement is among the fastest growing professions in the world. Every business needs people to negotiate with suppliers, manage logistics solutions, do market research and analysis, as well as provide access to advanced operations and strategies.
Based on Kelly survey, procurement holds vital function in the expansion of Singapore’s trade volume in 2015. With this recent trend, hiring activity and demand for skilled procurement officers is strong in multinational and local companies. Procurement jobs also allow you to travel and work abroad in order to get a whole understanding of how international organisation functions and learn about buyer insights across the world.
Above average salary
Not many people know that procurement is highly-prospective job in terms of financial benefits. The law of supply and demand states that when an item is scarce while many people want it, then the price of that item will rise. This law depicts how it looks like working in procurement. Given the high demand for skilled procurement professionals with limited talent pools, salaries will rise across the board.
Based on Hays Asia salary survey, Chief Procurement Officer earns more salary when compared to other professions in prominent fields such as IT, Finance, Manufacturing, and Marketing. Another benefit of working in procurement is early exposure to senior levels. Focusing more on experience and performance, a procurement officer will more likely get faster promotion than other job roles.
Wide-variety of projects
If you hate monotonous work that requires you to be at desk all day, then procurement could prove to be a sweet escape. Working as a procurement officer offers you many challenging projects, such as how to design effective supply chain operations, manage marketing strategies, deliver cost savings, and report market analytics and research.
Moreover, procurement officers are known for their high visionary and goal-minded traits. It means they see far beyond what is in front of them. They always look forward and use strategic analytics to minimise risk and maximise profits for the company.
This way, you not only develop your negotiation and management skills but also broaden connections and hone expertise through project collaboration with other departments across different fields.
This article was first published here.