Would you recommend procurement to your kids?

Posted on 12. Feb, 2009 by in Blog

Most procurement professionals I know are, how shall I put this, old enough to have started a family. So it’s a common subject of conversation over dinner at roundtables and at events.

Of course it’s a good, solid conversation to have. But one thing that strikes me is that I rarely hear people recommending procurement as a profession worth getting into – least of all to their kids. Sure, it can be a hugely varied and fulfilling career. It can involve having relationships with all stakeholders in the business; include foreign travel, good salaries and huge amounts of responsibility…

But would you recommed procurement to your kids?

Most of today’s procurement professionals happened upon their roles. I’m not suggesting they don’t deserve them, rather that procurement turned out to be the right way to go rather than being a long-term professional objective.

How many of us were told at school that procurement would make a good, solid career? Not many, if any at all. How many of us decided procurement was where they wanted to be before we got there? Again, not many.

Until this changes, until we recommend pursuing a career in procurement to our kids, the profession will always be one, two, maybe three steps behind the likes of law, accountancy and finance. Not to mention marketing and sales.

So, would you recommend a career in procurement to your kids? I suspect probably not.

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One Response to “Would you recommend procurement to your kids?”

  1. Nick Dobney

    21. May, 2009

    As someone who has deliberatley taken up a career in the profession, rather than having ‘fallen’ into it, I’d recommend it to my kids. Buying and selling is at the heart of business and always has been. What better role to have in a business than being an expert in buying, last nights candidate on Alan Sugars Apprentice got fired because he didn’t negotiate.
    Let’s not over complicate things arguing about the semantics of what name we give our profession be it buying, purchasing, procurement, relationship management or some other term. Why don’t we think of oursevles as business people first who specialise in buying. I don’t think marketing or finance have such tedious debate. Should my children choose a career in business, I’ll certainly encourage them strongly towards being excellent at buying.

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