5 November 2010 | Lindsay Clark
Procurement should promote its image in the business and
externally to attract the best staff.
Speaking from the Procurecon 2010 conference in Brussels
this week, Giuseppe Conti, procurement director, services, at international
pharmaceuticals firm Merck Serono, said:
“Upgrading the image of your
procurement department is one area of opportunity. If you work for Google,
L’Oreal or Apple then, probably, you do not need to work that much on the brand
image of your department – people will just apply because they love the
company. It’s a bit more difficult if you work for a less well-known
organisation.”
Procurement heads could improve the external image of their
department by writing articles in trade magazines, appearing at conferences or
talking at business schools, said Conti. “You have to make yourself more
visible to the external world, so when potential talent Googles you, they can
see that [your] company brings some value to them.”
Despite the increased importance of procurement teams as a
result of globalisation and trends such as corporate responsibility, the
function still has difficulty competing for the top talent against finance and
marketing, said Conti. This is particularly because they’re all looking for
softer interpersonal skills, he added.
“We are doing well compared
to IT and HR, but we are not yet perceived as the function to be. Branding our
function and making sure that people understand more about what we do and how
rich and broad the work can be – that’s part of the challenge in years to
come,” said Conti, who also teaches negotiation skills at the London Business
School and Said Business School at the University of Oxford.
