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​In July, 1st Executive explored the driving factors that are currently influence candidate decision making when it comes to career opportunities across the Procurement, Supplier Management and Supply Chain space in the UK, EU and North America.

With the well publicised global cost of living challenge, is salary still king or are other key factors shaping decision making?

Given the recent and significant uplift in the volume of opportunities across the Procurement, Supplier Management and Supply Chain space, how can hiring organisations optimise their EVP, attraction and assessment process to ensure that they’re grabbing the interest and attention of the best talent in an increasingly crowded marketplace?

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Poll Results:

Which of these is your most important priority when considering a job application?

• Salary increase: 20%

• Hybrid working/flexible working: 25%

• Culture fit: 34%

• Opportunity for progression: 21%

 Whilst these results represent a whole of market survey, there is stark difference when we drill down within certain demographics, notably, 48% of candidates in the early stages of their careers (<5 years) highlighted hybrid working as the key motivator, with one respondent stating “Hybrid/flexibility is a priority, it is essential part of working for me – I feel I work more efficiently”

This begs the question, how do organisations ensure they can attract development talent (often a pain point for many of the CPO’s in our network), when many organisations are considering an increase in mandatory office attendance?

 The overwhelming response from our Public Sector network was that Pay & Benefits was the most important factor when considering market opportunities – with 41% of respondents highlighting this point, vs an average of 20% across our whole of market survey.

What is the market saying?:

Aligned with the poll results, many of the conversations that we had with candidates throughout July highlighted the focus on culture fit & values alignment:

“Personally when looking at new opportunities there are a number of factors to consider but most importantly culture of the business, exciting projects with a clear direction as well as further opportunities to progress”. Snr Procurement Manager, Automotive (USA)

 “Cultural fit, enjoying work and your team is critical - to me, this is more important than money”. Category Manager, Packaging (Netherlands)

 “A strong social and sustainability ethos is essential for me to consider joining”. Procurement Manager, Electronics (UK)

Personal development also featured heavily in these conversations:

 “It’s about professional development, joining a company that has infrastructure to nurture my professional growth” Sourcing Manager, Financial Services (UK)

 “Personally, when looking at new opportunities there are a number of factors to consider, including an exciting project pipeline, with a clear direction, as well as further opportunities to progress” Category Director, Manufacturing (Germany)

What works well right now?:

One of our key CPO contacts described his approach to securing best talent – which closely reflected the findings of our own market survey:

“I focus on the delivery of an impactful “sales pitch” highlighting the rare opportunity to contribute to delivering change in a fairly mature environment, with plenty of support to call on, whilst also highlighting the opportunity for in-role progression. In my experience, many candidates can be too fixated on initial salary at the expense of the opportunity value. However, this does go hand in hand with the fact that the hiring company should know what market rates are and not be low balling as this gives a bad impression. Procurement is too small a talent pool to not know what someone is worth!”

 Other examples of high-performing hiring organisations:

• Well considered and impactful candidate marketing brochures / online video content bringing to life culture and working environment

• Use of appropriate, real-time, salary & compensation benchmarking (rather than reliance on generic, annual, salary surveys)

• A focus on up-skilling hiring managers in the delivery of an engaging and empathetic interview process that fosters cultural alignment, and represents the values proposition of the organisation

• Leadership interaction and visibility in the hiring process – Director / CPO level

• Clearly defined commitment to Professional Development

“For me, its all about who I work with, the culture of the leader is paramount. I have taken a job just because I believed in the manager running the team and wanted to join the journey that they were leading”. Procurement Graduate, FMCG (UK)

In Conclusion:

Our survey highlights that job seekers consider various factors when evaluating job opportunities, and these will likely change at varying stages of their careers, and will also be dictated by personal circumstances. However, whilst compensation and benefits still hold a prominent position, it’s evident that work life balance, career growth and company culture now play significant roles in the decision making process.

To attract and retain top Procurement, Supplier Management and Supply Chain talent employers should focus on creating a well rounded offering that aligns with these priorities, and ensure that hiring managers as well as leaders are well equipped to deliver this value proposition at every touch point of the hiring process.

Understanding this blend of factors can help job seekers and employers make more informed decisions – leading to better ROI from the hiring process for all parties, ultimately improving retention rates as well as discretionary effort (a consistent attribute across high performing teams!)

1st Executive are experienced in helping SME, FTSE100 and Global 500 organisations optimise their candidate attraction and assessment processes.

Reach out to richard.shelley@1st-executive.com or sally.davis@1st-executive.com for an exploratory discussion – we’re happy to share case studies of our success and would love to help!