In our recruitment practice, we’re hearing from lots of companies who are having difficulty securing the right level of strategic procurement talent for mid-career roles. So why is that the case? Today, we’re providing some market intelligence about how to secure the procurement talent to take your team to the next level.

As a recruiter, Argentus sits at the nexus of candidates looking for jobs, and people looking to hire, particularly in our specialty of supply chain and procurement. We’re in the unique position of seeing what people are saying on both sides of the market and trying to bring them into alignment by placing the right candidate in the right job opportunity. In our practice, we also give strategic advice to companies hiring in the space, as well as candidates looking for jobs.

So today, we wanted to share some of that advice. It’s about something we’ve been noticing recently in our recruitment practice: many companies we hear from are finding it very difficult to hire for mid-career procurement roles. 

Here’s a few examples of roles that organizations are struggling to fill in this market: Say a company is looking for a sole contributor in procurement. If it’s in food or manufacturing, it could be someone to purchase raw materials, finished components and MRO on the direct side. If it’s in telecom, public sector or financial services, it could be someone to purchase indirect services (IT, real estate, HR, travel, etc.). 

These mid-career searches have, lately, been a thorn in the side of HR and hiring managers across the procurement field. Roles sit open for so long that they start to grow cobwebs. HR might get an influx of applicants, and pre-screen candidates who seem to match the requirements, and then somewhere along the line the hire falls apart. Maybe the candidate doesn’t possess the right strategic depth when they get to an interview with a Procurement Manager or Director. Maybe the candidate gets to the offer stage and doesn’t take the opportunity because it doesn’t align with their work-life balance, salary or career progression.

At Argentus, these types of roles are our bread and butter, and we hear about these stories from clients all the time.  So today, we wanted to write a bit about this phenomenon: why exactly are companies struggling to fill these roles, and what can they do to overcome those challenges?

From our perspective, here are the biggest barriers:

Salaries have risen, and companies aren’t necessarily seeing the strategic skills to match

As we’ve blogged about, salaries have risen for procurement since the pandemic. In 2020-2022, $100k would have been a very solid mid-career salary for a procurement position. A company hiring for, say, a strategic Commodity Manager in direct materials in manufacturing could be reasonably confident that they would get strategic profiles at that salary level. Now, the same position would be targeting $120-130k at a minimum, depending on the level of spend. 

To give another example, a food company might be hiring a Procurement Manager for raw materials and packaging, targeting $95-100k for the position. Again, in the previous market it might be relatively easy for them to find someone who’s run many large scale, competitive RFPs and has a strong understanding of food commodity markets at that range. Now, they’re looking at candidates who have around 3-5 years of experience, with perhaps 1-2 years running competitive RFPs. 

In general, below say $85k is now almost an entry-level salary in procurement, if you’re looking for candidates with experience at large organizations. So here’s the issue: companies want true strategic players, but many candidates at their expected salary level don’t have the true exposure to deep, strategic procurement work. This leads to the situation above, where HR will screen a candidate who doesn’t pass muster with the hiring manager.

That’s not to say strategic candidates aren’t out there at that salary level. They are, and we place them regularly. But they’re more likely to be hungry, high-potential, tech-savvy emerging candidates with some strategic exposure rather than candidates with 10+ years of strategic category experience. 

Candidates at this level have lots of demands that companies aren’t always prepared to meet

Many candidates who are now beginning to enter mid-career were either joining the workforce during the pandemic, or had 1-2 years of procurement experience. These candidates “came of age” professionally during an era when remote work was the norm, rather than the exception, and the emphasis on work-life balance was at its peak. Hybrid or in-person isn’t a deal breaker. Most candidates know where the wind is blowing and are happy to commute. But they’re less likely to be OK travelling over an hour every day. They’re more likely to have requests for other accommodations. They’ll want to know how sophisticated procurement systems and processes are before joining a team, rather than working in legacy systems.

In general, candidates at this level have different expectations from their careers and their employers. It’s a curious thing: a $175k candidate will accept a director role with no questions asked (OK, a few questions), but a $100k candidate might quibble with the minor points. This creates a bad impression with companies, but is really just a generational difference to be navigated. 

So how do you overcome these challenges and close the hire?

• Emphasize business acumen and soft skills, rather than relying on category or industry experience. Some industries and categories (e.g. highly engineered commodities for manufacturing, or IT software) require deep category expertise. But many roles, especially in indirect procurement, follow similar processes, whether you’re buying professional services, travel, marketing, etc. Recognizing transferable skills broadens your talent pool. 
• Have flexibility in the hiring process where possible. Sometimes raising a salary level just isn’t in the cards, either because of internal equity or budget constraints. But to get the right level of strategic talent, companies need to show some flexibility in maybe unexpected ways. Showing that you can accommodate work-life balance within your culture goes a long way.
• Be transparent with candidates. Candidates at this level value transparency and authenticity. Try to keep interview timelines tight, and if there are delays, be clear about why. If you can’t raise a salary level, show candidates the road map to future growth. If you bring candidates into the process, and be upfront, the process feels more collaborative. 

Strategic candidates at this level are out there. We know because we speak with them every day. We’ve built connections with them as they build their careers, and we place them regularly. Finding the right talent is very doable, but sometimes you have to brush off the cobwebs and adjust your approach.

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Have you had a role sitting open for a few months? Let Argentus secure the strategic procurement talent that you need. If you’re experiencing or any other challenges in your own procurement or supply chain hiring, reach out to Argentus today! Call 416 364-9919 or send a brief email outlining your requirements to recruit@argentus.com.