Episode show notes
“Good people, regardless of function, generally have a choice. We’ve worked hard to get our hiring managers in a mindset that, when they go into the interview, it is a two-way thing.”
The market for new, ambitious procurement professionals might seem relatively thin right now, but could our industry set our sights further afield to create a wider talent pool with more varied skill sets?
Balfour Beatty’s Evan Sutherland has witnessed the benefits of being open-minded, and the missed opportunities that come from being too picky. After all, since procurement is a function that touches so many parts of the business, are candidates from commercial, marketing, finance, or anywhere in between not equipped with transferable skills?
On this episode of Talent Talks, Evan discusses the ever-growing focus on soft skills and attitude, his desire for a more centralised approach to procurement across the board, and how an openness to technology can transform the role that our function plays in generating bottom line revenue.
This episode of Talent Talks covers:
- Nurturing and developing a prolific talent pool
- How businesses can adapt to the job-rich, candidate-light market
- Centralising your procurement function to create a more cohesive unit
- The essential need for soft skills and personability
- Ways in which we can encourage more promising young professionals into the industry
The Talent Talks Podcast is proudly sponsored by Barkers Commercial Consultancy. Barkers are a multi-award-winning ethical, procurement consultancy offering specialist services including cost and procurement transformation, contract lifecycle management, procurement managed services, bid writing services and digital procurement https://barkersprocurement.com/
Episode highlights
“Procurement skills can be transferable. I’ve always been a great believer that if you can buy IT effectively & professionally, you can buy plant and fleet, you can buy indirect services, you can buy travel, you can buy materials. You have to learn about the markets and the industries and the organisations, but the principles are still the same. So we’ve really gone on that journey, and it’s been a big, big success.” – 3:25 – Evan Sutherland
“I think organisations have to now look at a 3-5 year plan for a candidate. Just matching someone’s salary expectations isn’t enough now. I think people are looking for more.” – 7:40 – Evan Sutherland
“Good people, regardless of function, generally have a choice. They’ve got their current employer sometimes, but they’ve also got a range of choices, because good people normally do. We’ve worked hard to get our hiring managers in a mindset that, when they go into the interview, it is a two-way thing.” – 10:50 – Evan Sutherland
“We’ve worked really hard to have the right attitude in the functions, and I think that permeates down with likeable, energetic managers. People want to work for those managers, and it just permeates down to employees & stakeholders. If someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, stakeholders are generally much more forgiving if they’re likeable, polite, they try hard and are responsive.” – 16:35 – Evan Sutherland
“When you’re sending out subcontracts & packages of work via Jaggaer, and you’re getting up to a 90% response rate, that’s a positive sign for me. That tells me people want to work with Balfour Beatty, they’re not declining. That was a big issue, and that’s still a big issue in our industry.” – 23:40 – Evan Sutherland
“We’re seeing procurement go into a space where it’s actually being involved in a lot more work-winning opportunities – supporting tenders & RFPs, and being judged on work winning. Probably our most mature business is the power business within procurement. They’re talking less and less about the savings we’re making. It’s more about how much margin improvement and bottom line generation we are making.” – 26:35 – Evan Sutherland
“If you can take someone like Patrick Dunn, Senior CPO at Sainsbury’s, who’s well respected – him at some point making the decision to oversee CIPS is only going to have gravitas to the body. That’s no detriment to the individuals there at the moment but I think that you’ve got to really elevate the status of the qualification.” – 29:50 – Evan Sutherland
Links & References
- Evan Sutherland, UK Procurement & Supply Chain Director at Balfour Beatty plc
https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-sutherland-70879433/
- Balfour Beatty plc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/balfour-beatty-plc/
- Martin Smith, Founder & Director of Talent Drive
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsmith2009/
