Specialist supply-chain and procurement recruiter, Martin Smith from Talent Drive provides helpful insights to job hunters, in this unique episode of Talent Talks.
Martin provides a deep-dive into how to stand out against the competition by being authentic, curating relevant content and showcasing the value you can add to employers. Initially recorded as an online webinar as part of the #projectprocurement series, this podcast episode includes a short informative speech, followed by a Q&A led by a series of procurement professionals.
A lot of people have asked me about direct messages to businesses and there is a lot of topic and debate about “should I approach businesses directly?” At the moment emails opened is up 40% because there is a captive audience. People are spending less time in meetings, clearly, they’re not going to be out and about or commuting all over the place.
Martin Smith – Talent Drive
Make your CV about what you can solve and the value you can add. Again, I read CV’s where it just says, “I do contract management”. To be honest, you kind of take that as a given as a procurement professional that you do that. As a recruiter, would I necessarily write that on my CV? No. Is that solving a problem? Not really. Is it adding value? Not really. So when you’re writing the CV have a think about what you can solve.
Martin Smith – Talent Drive
This episode of Talent Talks covers:
- How to approach businesses you want to work for
- Taking advantage of marginal gains through recruiters
- CV writing tips
- Building and nurturing your network
- Identifying industries with demand in supply-chain professionals
- Tips on negotiating your salary
- Curating relevant and authentic content.
Links & References
- Martin Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsmith2009/
- Talent Drive: https://talentdrive.co.uk/
Episode Highlights
“If I rewind 11 years ago, when I started recruiting in the industry, people were quite linear in their thinking. It was, I live here in Surrey, and I’ll commute to a 20 mile radius of my house, and that is all whereas I think businesses and employees have to be flexible. Businesses now can’t just turn around and say “it’s a five day working week in that office.” So I think that’s a hugely encouraging thing. We’re embracing technology through zoom and Microsoft Teams and all the different software and video facilities that we have now. So I think as a wider and longer term employment opportunity that will be a hugely positive thing.”
“A lot of people have asked me about direct messages to businesses and there is a lot of topic and debate about “should I approach businesses directly?” At the moment emails opened is up 40% because there is a captive audience. People are spending less time in meetings, clearly, they’re not going to be out and about or commuting all over the place. People are working from home. So they’re going to have more of a chance to be reading those emails back. So you’ve got more chance to get engagement at the moment. So for everyone that’s looking at new roles, take advantage of that and leverage that 85% increase in people being online at the moment, whether that’s through LinkedIn or just generally via their emails or any other sort of technology.”
“Make your CV about what you can solve and the value you can add. Again, I read CV’s where it just says, “I do contract management”. To be honest, you kind of take that as a given as a procurement professional that you do that. As a recruiter, would I necessarily write that on my CV? No. Is that solving a problem? Not really. Is it adding value? Not really. So when you’re writing the CV have a think about what you can solve. So whether that is “I’m an IT technical expert, I know every bit of software licensing agreements there is to know” or “I’ve worked with the big four on consultancy spend and my supply knowledge is this, this and this.” That’s the stuff that shows what value you can add.”
“My final message would be patient and be persistent. Get the balance right with persistence. Clearly, if you’ve messaged a business once, follow up in a couple of weeks time, but don’t message them every day. Get the balance there. But I think at the moment, have some patience, we will come through this and the market definitely will pick up in procurement, quicker than a lot of other markets. Being patient and persistent is definitely my biggest bit of advice.”
