CIPS_Salary_Survey_2016_LR

Section 3
Perceptions of
procurement
Here we explore how procurement is viewed in
terms of the importance of certain skills by
sector, the general regard for what the role of
procurement can bring to organisations and the
key issues for the profession.
A key theme running through all our report findings is the need for
employers to be more flexible in the way they recruit and more
conscious that the benefits they offer to attract talent are actually
those that are valued by candidates. Employers are faced with, on the
one hand, a procurement skills shortage, and on the other an
increased need for procurement people as the profession becomes
more widely valued. This means there is a real opportunity to recruit
from outside the profession for those all-important soft and
transferable skills. Individuals with these skills from other disciplines
can then be developed though procurement-specific training.
The trend of improving the perception of procurement continues this
year with 66% of respondents highlighting an improvement over the
previous 12 months. 71% of the procurement professionals we
surveyed state that procurement is very much valued within their
organisation and 50% highlight that the procurement function is
engaged at the start of projects. All of this suggests that the demand
for procurement skills will continue and grow making developing that
talent pipeline ever-more crucial for organisations.
The exception to this generally positive picture is in Charity/Not For
Profit, where only 59% of respondents felt valued compared to 72% in
the Private and Public Sector. This may be contributing to the high
percentage of respondents who are seeking to move job in the next
12 months and is a trend that we will continue to monitor.