Many people i meet ask me how i landed in procurement. It wasn’t as difficult for me as for some. As a Uni graduate i completed my Bachelors which was in Information technology. I obviously at the time had no clue that procurement existed as an option, until my first real job. I say real job because they were paying me a real salary and above all i was a tax payer!
My first job started as a basic admin role, basic office paperwork, filing and all the crap that others didn’t want to do. However, i also used to get involved in the procurement aspect every now and then, and because of my charming personality *wink wink* i had good rapport with most of the suppliers, contractors, visitors etc. I was soon given the role of preparing basic purchase orders and expediting deliveries, which at times turned into screaming at frustrating suppliers.
The management of our organisation changed a bit, which made my then Managing Director realise that i could actually handle all procurement and logistics on my own, he gave me shot so to speak. He actually had a lot of faith in my work, i never asked for the position, but i always made sure i delivered him quality work. I used to look forward to impressing him actually, and it kept on growing from there.
After being in this first job for just under 3 years, i realised that to actually apply for any other jobs out there that would help me progress, i needed a professional qualification. My IT background was the best decision i ever made, because it has helped me a lot in improving systems where i have worked, producing quality reports, creating and maintaining databases, creating stock inventory and logistics controls, researching widely online when it comes to sourcing goods and services, tracking shippments, archiving, international sourcing processing, eprocurement etc. my list is endless.
The good news though its a interesting field that i can chat ALOT about.
How did you land yourself in the procurement field?