Our Procurement & Supply Chain specialists review the market following the second quarter of 2018, and give insights into the trends shaping the employment landscape.

The recruitment landscape within the Procurement & Supply Chain profession has matched the weather, with a sunny outlook and plenty to smile about. There has been steady activity across a number of sectors during the last three months.

Property & Construction

Similar to the first quarter of 2018, Property & Construction continues to actively recruit new talent with an increase in Senior Buyers and Head of Procurement roles, especially in Affordable Housing. Firms are taking advantage of the government’s backing and investors and developers are getting their heads around exactly what PRS (Private Rented Sector) is.

The abundance of Senior Supply Chain Management positions continues, which may be a result of the uncertainty of Brexit as over 50% of EU companies move out of the UK in this area.  However there are fewer positions within Technology Procurement in Property & Construction compared to other sectors.

We have seen an upturn in the Facilities Management Sector, with new assignments for Senior Heads of Procurement and Senior Buyers with mechanical and electrical experience.

Banking & Financial Services

psd has seen a number of requests from global retail banks and some smaller niche organisations for Procurement & Supply Chain professionals.  There is a continued demand for individuals who have IT services skills. We recently supported a consumer finance organisation, placing a senior Technology Procurement Manager to assist with a number of large IT projects to be completed over the next 12 months.  We also worked with a global bank to recruit an experienced Enterprise Software Procurement Specialist. The demand for this skill set will continue to grow over the next 12 months.

psd is currently assisting a global investment bank that is creating a new Vendor Management team, to manage commercial contracts with non IT suppliers. We have supported this bank for many years so we were naturally pleased to be asked to source an individual for the Vendor Manager role.

As ever, the Banking & Financial Services sector has been busy recruiting interim support, with psd taking on a number of maternity cover assignments.  Departments are also hiring fixed-term cover whilst more established team members move onto strategic projects.

Healthcare

psd continues to be strong in the Healthcare sector with a number of recruitment projects, predominantly in the interim area. We worked with one of the largest UK healthcare providers to provide an interim Procurement Manager in the non IT area, who will focus on categories such as legal, professional services and HR. We also have ongoing demand from another major healthcare provider looking to recruit a Technology Procurement Manager.

Energy & Utilities

Interim assignments continue to dominate this sector with a continued demand for Category Specialists and Global Category Managers across all direct/indirect spends as more organisations move away from a transactional procurement operation to a more strategic approach.  During the second quarter of 2018 we have had opportunities to recruit into the Travel, IT and Marketing categories. As oil prices continue to rise this has led to increased demand from Oil & Gas companies for Contract & Procurement Leads in overseas territories as new projects are awarded.

Professional Services and HR are averaging day rates for Category Managers from £450 – £550. Technology is the only exception where rates have increased up to £700 per day.  On the permanent side this market has slowed down since the last quarter of 2017, but there are promising signs for the future. A number of clients have requested search assignments at the time of writing.

Sport

Adaptable is one of our core values at psd, and we were given the opportunity to demonstrate this with an interesting assignment with a major sporting body. The organisation required an individual to set up a new procurement function covering all categories. We successfully placed a Procurement Manager on a 12 month fixed term assignment and the feedback has been excellent. The client was thrilled with the outcome and exceedingly happy with psd‘s performance.

Consulting

psd has had a steady demand for our services from consulting organisations particularly in the procure-to-pay and source-to-pay areas. We are working with a niche provider that is competing favourably with the larger organisations. We supported their international expansion plan by placing two P2P Implementation Managers and we have further requisitions on the way.

psd has also supported a global advisory firm in the Procurement Transformation area. The organisation was looking for a Senior Director to lead the practice, and at the time of writing we have a candidate at final stage. This will help the organisation to meet their growth targets and also help to assist the move into Supply Chain.