Your ideal business has taken you through an in-depth interview process, you have been competing against some of the top talent in your field and the organisation have told you that it’s you they want; you’re the best person for the role.
Queue a rush of pride and a tidal wave of self-confidence.
Bring on anticipation for the future and excitement at the challenges ahead.
Except, something’s not quite right.
Put on the brakes! Hold everything…
You would be surprised how easy it is for a recruitment process to fall over, simply because the person involved has failed to think things through before proceeding.
The fact is we’re human.
We get excited by new opportunities so we rush straight in.
We’re busy, so we sidestep conducting our due diligence.
We’re innocent in our endeavours, not realising that a change of job will affect so much more than our salaries or our job titles.
As procurement recruiters, the Procurement Heads team is adept a preempting most catastrophes and making sure that 99.9% of our candidates finish the race and enter the winner’s circle, but there are several things a procurement job seeker can do to help themselves safely across the finish line.
Procurement Heads’ tips on how to find a new procurement job
- Understand your priorities.
Just like buying a house, it makes sense to have a checklist (mental or written) of the things that are important to you when searching for a new role, particularly those that might be deal breakers.
This includes everything from salary, benefits, travel distance and working culture to the size of the business you feel comfortable working in and the career development you’re looking for. - Do your research.
If flexible working is a necessity for you, make sure the business you’re approaching is open to this kind of working pattern.
Or, if generous holiday entitlement is important to you then check out the company’s benefits package.
And, if you want to avoid a lengthy or difficult commute, do a dummy run.
Could you really see yourself doing the same route every day? Twice? - Be realistic about what’s on offer.
Although there’s no harm in wanting to secure yourself a remuneration package that reflects your skills and experience, most companies only have so much flexibility when it comes to the salary they can pay.
Many organisations will advertise a salary bracket, but few are able to put out an offer at the top of the scale as this is usually reserved for experienced employees who have worked their way up within the organisation.
There are also other team members’ salaries and budgets to consider.
A respectable organisation will not justify paying you over the odds when other colleagues doing the role at the same level are earning significantly less. In short, only apply for roles where the advertised salary truly matches your requirements (see point 1). - Give yourself the ‘trial close’.
Before you get too involved in the recruitment process think about how you would feel if the company in question offered you the role.
A new job means new faces and new relationships that have to be forged – a change too big for some to contemplate.
Handing in your notice also gives your current employer a chance to extend a ‘counter-offer’ where more money, benefits and career progression are promised to you to make you want to stay. If you think you could be persuaded by such an offer it is far better (and more professional) to approach your current employer and ask them to match what you’re looking for than using another organisation as leverage
In our experience, job seekers who take all of these things into consideration are far more likely to finish as winners.
Don’t let bad planning ruin a great job offer. Better still; talk to a trusted recruitment partner who can help you with a strategy for your success.
