Jack is Head of Practice – Interim Management, having joined Procurement Heads in 2021.
Why did you choose procurement recruitment as a career?
Having spent five successful years with a large recruitment business recruiting qualified finance roles, I joined Procurement Heads as an agile, people-centric business with a compelling proposition to market.
I enjoy the fast-paced nature of interim recruitment, and working in the world of the professional procurement and supply chain labour markets is exciting – it’s a highly valuable, mature interim market full of excellent practitioners who readily demonstrate the value they add.
Seeing the impact, a successful interim procurement hire can have is always rewarding.
What sort of procurement roles do you recruit and where?
I recruit interim positions, largely day rate roles – both inside and outside IR35 – but also including FTC engagements, across the UK and for remote working positions.
What qualities do you believe are integral to being a successful procurement recruiter?
The ability to build relationships is absolutely key, especially given that successful hires in the procurement and supply chain disciplines are often as much reliant on the right ‘soft skills’ and approach as they are on technical ‘experience’.
It’s crucial for us to ensure we really understand our candidates’ and clients’ skills and needs, and to be as consultative as possible throughout our engagements.
What do Procurement Heads’ values mean to you?
I’ve always placed a high value on rewarding relationships, as it brings the sometimes process-heavy elements of a recruitment exercise to life and makes for the most enjoyable and successful partnerships.
So, it’s a real pleasure to work for a company that lives and breathes this each day.
The business has been built on an excellent reputation, and many of our clients and candidates are ones who have known and trusted us for years already.
And our purpose is to deliver recruitment as a professional service, what does that mean to you?
It’s about being the experts in our field and delivering a best-in-class service offering to our customers, working in a true, trusted, professional partnership.
This sort of recruitment aligns with my personal approach perfectly.
How has procurement changed during your time recruiting into the sector?
Since joining Procurement Heads, I’ve seen near month-on-month increasing demand for skilled interim managers.
Trends have often tended towards SRM-type remits, as organisations realise the importance of supplier engagement, as well as cost-reduction-focused programmes as the business world starts to tighten the belt.
What inspires you?
My son inspires me and has been innocently altering my perspective for the better since 2017!
Professionally, I’m just inspired to make a success of things really – I enjoy my remit and have a firm focus on delivering the best result, while also enjoying the engagement along the way.
What 3 words would you use to describe your professional self?
Engaged. Energetic. Problem-solver.
What do you enjoy most about procurement recruitment?
The variety in the remits is often fascinating (some of the category areas covered or goods and services sourced can be unusual/unique!), and I regularly work on positions for which huge value can often be quantified, even in as obvious a way as by the impact to the top line or bottom line of the balance sheet.
What are some of the biggest highlights since you joined Procurement Heads?
The biggest highlight for me is really an ongoing one, and that’s the huge growth and success of our Interim practice, and the contribution to which I’m making.
We’ve successfully supported far more clients than ever before by providing high-calibre interim managers, and it’s such an exciting business to be a part of!
Go-karting on the outdoor circuit at Thruxton in late July was a fun – if very sweaty – team outing too!
