Women in procurement: 6 tips to keep your skills, network and knowledge up to date
The last few years have disrupted the trajectories of many working women’s careers. It’s time to get back on track by ensuring your skills, knowledge, and network are up to date. Here are six tips that can help women in procurement achieve their professional objectives.
Working in procurement comes with challenges for women. The pandemic has disproportionately hampered their progression in the industry, affecting career goals and aspirations. And now for many, we are trying to catch up.
Women are paramount to procurement and supply chains across the world. Getting careers back on track and aligning them with professional goals and ambitions is a task we are focused on.
Our Global BRAVO Leadership program has been created to unpack self-limiting beliefs and help you negotiate your career while navigating the rules at play in the workplace.
As well as the topics covered across the program, there are things that women in procurement can do to keep their skills, network and knowledge of the sector up-to-date.
Whether you’re seeking that promotion or going for a position at another organisation, we can help get on the right path to ensuring that you fulfil your professional procurement objectives.
Here are six tips for women in procurement that can help keep your skills, network and knowledge of the sector up-to-date:
Continuous self-development
Whether you’re an entry-level procurement professional or have worked in the industry for 15 years, continuous self-development is essential for your career.
For women working in procurement, making time to invest in your professional and personal development can make a big difference to landing more senior positions and working towards goals you’ve set.
There are plenty of ways to upskill yourself that do not require spending huge sums of money on training courses.
If you have recently returned to work from a career break, it’s worth taking some free online courses or speaking to your employer about CPD to help develop your management skills, as well as plug gaps in your procurement knowledge.
Attend industry events and conferences
The pandemic made it easier than ever before to attend industry events and procurement conferences from the comfort of your own home. Now virtual events have become the norm.
This was a game changer for anyone not able to attend events or conferences due to family commitments pre-pandemic. There are specific conferences and events that are exclusively catered to women working in procurement.
Whether you decide to attend in-person or online, these events can help you stay informed when it comes to topical discussions, as well as widening your connections in the industry.
Stay across the latest developments in the procurement industry
Women who work in procurement need to make sure they are up-to-date with any trends or developments in the industry.
That might be through reading industry-related blogs, reports, or publications. This can help you stay on top of issues and trends that are happening in procurement, as well as successful case studies of women procurement professionals.
By keeping yourself informed about the latest procurement news and developments, it’ll increase your chances of progressing in the industry.
Engage in online communities through social media
Social media is an excellent tool to engage with the wide community that may be unable to meet in-person due to where they’re based.
By engaging with and building relationships with other women in procurement, you can build your professional network while sharing your knowledge and expertise with others.
It’s important that you stay active and keep your social media profiles up-to-date to maximise the full potential of using the tool to help advance your career in procurement.
Honing your digital skills
It’s more crucial than ever before that you hone your digital skills to ensure that you are up to speed with using big data and other tools to help do your job.
Digital skills are not just a nice-to-have, but vital to developing your career.
With hybrid work becoming the norm, being trained up on those skills plays an important role in how effectively you can do your job and communicate with others.
Keeping your digital skills up-to-date can play a major part for women in futureproofing your career and achieving your goals..
Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration
Procurement is all about collaboration.
It’s crucial as a procurement professional that you collaborate with various stakeholders within your organisation so that you develop the strategic skills to progress in your procurement career.
Outside of your organisation, there are many opportunities to collaborate with other women working in procurement.
Having that window to form collaborative connections can help you to get some insight into issues that are relevant to women in procurement and much more.
For women wanting to take the next step in their procurement career journey in 2023, it’s important that you keep your skills, network and knowledge up-to-date.
By putting these tips into practice, it’ll ensure that you can secure that all important promotion or dream job you’ve worked so hard to get.
Ready to take ownership of your career and get the visibility you deserve? Learn more about our 2023 BRAVO Women in Leadership Programme and register today.
Find more Women In Procurement & Supply Chain news, insights, and best practises at Procurious.com.
This article was originally published on 4 April 2022
