How To Hold On Tight To Prospective Procurement Talent
The recruitment process can be brutal. You’ve work hard to identify and attract the best procurement talent. But, at the last minute, the candidate pulls out leaving you back at square one. Michael Page’s Graham Lucas has some top tips for achieving a successful recruitment process.
Procurement has come a long way and holds a position of positive influence within many organisations. The agenda for the Big Ideas Summit – Procurement in the Digital Age, Rethinking What’s Possible, Building Workforce 4.0, and The View from the Top – shows that there has never been a more urgent need for bigger change and greater evolution.
You need only to look at the progress over the past few years to recognise this. SRM, improved supply chains, driving both value and innovation from suppliers, and category leads shaping strategic agendas are some of the developments we have seen.
Whilst the progress is positive, the evolving shape of organisations and the disruptive nature of technology is only going to increase both the degrees, and speed of change required. I genuinely don’t believe that procurement as a function will continue to exist unless it drives a much greater breadth to its commercial influence over an organisation.
So what affect does this have on talent attraction, acquisition and retention in procurement teams?
The Procurement Talent Pool
It is clear that 80 per cent of the roles on which we are being briefed carry very similar requirements. Organisations are competing for the 20 per cent of candidates in any potential pool that possess the key skills needed to help procurement teams deliver that broader value. Influencing skills, communication, being able to connect with stakeholders and suppliers, and driving innovation etc. Most procurement teams will have advertised a role recently specifying many of these requirements.
Identifying the talent you want to hire is only one aspect of the challenge. You’ll also need to ensure that you are able to acquire them. Three in every four of the offers that our clients are making are being met with counter offers, many of them substantial. In half of these cases the counter offer is equal to or greater than the offer made by our client.
Fortunately Michael Page are mitigating most of the risks associated with this for our clients. It’s important to prepare a candidate for what is to come when they resign. We also consider what they need from the process and screen out those that are not serious. This is all part of what a good recruiter will do. And after that, it’s down to you….
What can procurement teams do to avoid losing talent they have worked so hard to identify and attract? It comes down to six key factors.
Understand key motivators
Understanding candidates’ key motivators is crucial to ensuring that any chance of buy back is reduced, and to make the right hiring decisions for long-term performance and retention. If you have truly understood their motivators you are more likely to run a process that allows them to see how these can be met by you and your organisation. Where these don’t match you can save yourself critical time. This will allow you to focus on better prospects in terms of those that will actually join and, just as importantly, stay.
Get clarity on the full package
Package clarity: as with motivations, it is vital to get into the detail of a candidate’s current package at the beginning of the process so provide a full breakdown of the package and the value of it.
This will allow for an accurate comparison of a candidate’s current situation vs. the package on offer. Bonuses (likely earnings and also when they are paid), pensions, healthcare, car packages…. Not only do they mean different things in different businesses but many people don’t know the details until they are asked to look. Get in the detail early and manage expectations from day one. Otherwise you could be either under offering or underselling your own offer.
Offer a healthy balance
It’s easy to overlook the importance of a work life balance. There’s no point getting into the middle of a process only for a candidate to decide the commute is too tough or expensive. Likewise, what is the realistic work/life balance you can offer in the new role? What are the candidate’s personal circumstances? Will this impact their final decision? It is crucial to be upfront about this from the start.
Ensure that people want to join your people!
This has a huge impact on candidates but is, strangely, sometimes underestimated. Candidates will form an attraction to a business and a team. This is separate from things like role specification, package, location etc. If you can get your prospective employee to meet people that they believe they can work with, and most importantly learn from, it makes the organisation much more desirable.
People join people more than they join companies.
A competent recruitment process
Candidates often judge businesses by their processes particularly at interview stage. Make sure there are clear timelines in place to manage expectations. Does the advised preparation match with the content of the interviews?
Whilst these may seem like small things, they can make a big difference. A company that is well organised, thorough and effective at recruitment, can either impress or put a candidate off. Asking someone to deliver change in an organisation that doesn’t appear able to do what it says it will do sends out the wrong signals.
Make your offer compelling
An offer should always be made based on what the hiring business thinks the candidate is worth, not just on the advertised package. For each role it is worth considering what a compelling offer would be. Both as a statement of intent to secure the candidate and also to ensure your remuneration is in line with the rest of the market. Importantly, this might not just be salary; it could be a bonus, private healthcare package or flexible working hours.
Graham Lucas is Managing Director – Procurement & Supply Chain and Logistics at Michael Page.
