3 Ways to Have an Incredible Procurement Career

Going againt the Traditional Procurement Career Path

I used to seriously want to go from Buyer to Chief Procurement Officer. But sometime, say 6 months before the pandemic, when my second son was born, I realised that would be the worst thing for me. I don’t recall why but some content in a different area was bringing in some money, and it opened my eyes to the possibility of content creation as a career.

That’s when I planned and started World of Procurement.

To create a brand that I owned focused on Procurement that could help people worldwide.

I thought - even if it doesn’t make any money, it will get interest, and I’ll land a role somewhere I can use these skills.

And everything worked.

But it wouldn’t have if I had considered a linear career.

At 31, I’m happy with what I’m doing. It’s a blast. And that’s all I can ask for.

Here are some short insights about what I’ve learned.

Choose Your Boss

I’ve had more bad bosses than good bosses.

It’s a sad truth. As any millennial can attest to - it feels like the scar you in some manner. So I’m always critical of any role or engagement where I’ll closely be working with people.

Interrogate who you work with.

See through the facade if there is one.

Be Curious and Always Be Learning

Did I tell you I did a Masters In Commercial Law to put of making a career decision because I loved learning so much?

Did I mention I loved the Interstellar film so much I read the Kip Thorne book about the science of Black Holes in the film with my 3-year-old at the time, and we loved it.

I love learning. And you need to.

Learning new things to assist my career in procurement has been a game-changer.

But you must take it seriously and document it in a Digital Second Brain, a.k.a Personal Knowledge Management System. Read my article on it here.

I’ll be releasing more content on how you can do this to elevate the copius amount of notes I know some of you likely make…in a notepad (and that’s fine - we can digitalise these easily).

I know there is hype around AI but please learn it.

I’ve just got access to Chat GPT-4 that now has access to the web. It’s now a research assistant for me. For example, it pulled out a beauty of an article I already have in my read later app, Readwise on Generative AI.

The Pathless Path

I’m yet to read this book, by Paul Millerd. But this video by Ali Abdaal was a great watch.

In short, it’s this notion of not taking the linear but making decisions on a more frequent basis, taking on side projects, and developing new skills whilst you do it.

I resonated with this as it was the approach I’ve been taking - and now I can add this label to it.

In short, Procurement has always had a career path to CPO. But now, in 2023, there are so many opportunities, that we can all have our own Pathless Path.

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As always, my friends, I truly appreciate that you read this.

Daniel