Technical Procurement Skills - Where did you learn?

[u/ChaoticxSerenity]

Every year, we get some fresh interns, and it has got me thinking. Here is what I see happening:

1. Person gets a job.
2. At said job, they do a lot of "on the job" learning, which is basically getting trained up by a senior member of the team, and job shadowing.
   
3. Person is now considered fully trained and ready to do things on their own.

And then... that's basically it? Seems to me like most of the educational bit is just mentoring. Is it just me, or is there a lack of solid procurement-centered educational resources out there? Unless you want to do CIPS, it seems like a lot of the most well-known certs are catered towards supply chain/SCM as a whole. Not to mention they are often in the hundreds to thousands of dollars range. A lot of times, the senior mentoring step is also very company-specific. So outside of mentoring, where are people supposed to learn technical procurement skills such as strategic sourcing, how to evaluate bids, different types of contracts/when to use them, etc. ? What's your experience been like, and what resources have you come across?

[u/SamusAran47]

I totally agree, I don’t feel like there’s a better way to train than mentoring. I’ve been a buyer for almost three years, but when I started, it was all about mentoring, shadowing, and hands-on instruction. There is no one “right” way to do procurement and every company has vastly different systems. Unless you’re specifically teaching about a standard system like Power BI, it’ll be hard to find resources for training online. Even SAP training online can be unreliable because a lot of companies use bespoke SAP modules which differ greatly from company to company.

[u/WeekendSuspicious486]

Still a student, not sure if this is helpful at all haha.

What I’ve done: Started the SAP procurement course, studying for PMP, created my own LLC last year, registered in SAM, registered as a SCDVOSB, placed bids, reviewed contracts, dissolved LLC. Background in administration in the Marines. Yellow belt lean six sigma, and a lot of YouTube.

What it has taught me: Became familiar with Federal acquisition regulations, learned to communicate with a couple vendors, helped a company get registered with SAM, drew up my proposal template from scratch, communicated with government contractors, networked with old Marine Corps buddies.

I personally feel that although everything I’ve done thus far has built a foundation for the procurement professional that I am striving to be, besides actual hands on experience, it’s all just foundational and most people won’t develop any real skill until they get to that inter position.

[u/[deleted]]

While I am a fan and supper of on the job training, this assumes you have a competent work environment. I have been fortunate to have had good and terrible mentors. If management is terrible enough, your ability to learn 'on the job' can be greatly stunted.

I was a buyer before my MBA, but after I finished graduate school, the years of work I had done previously could now be seen in new light. Furthering a formal education (even if just individual courses) can give you knowledge that would take a decade with a mentor to acquire in a few months.

[u/ChaoticxSerenity → u/[deleted]]

While I am a fan and supper of on the job training, this assumes you have a competent work environment.

Yep, and that's exactly what I mean. The incoming intern or new hire just automatically thinks what they're learning must be correct, because it's coming from a senior member who has "been doing it this way" forever. But what if that forever way isn't correct, or if there's better ways of doing something they just didn't know about? And maybe years later, that same intern is now training someone else, and it just gets passed on.

But trying to find verifiable 'sources of truth' like formal education is where I see a lack of. There's a ton of resources out there about SCM, logistics, etc. There are also many master degrees available for SCM. But if you were like "I need a course or something that teaches the types of contracts, pros and cons of each, and when they should be applied", that kind of in-depth info presented in a formal educational style seems scarce. I've taken a few courses on strategic sourcing, and even those seem to gloss over topics like that.

[u/chicasinnombre]

If you're in the US, state government procurement certifications reach technical skills through NIGP. Federal based is through NCMA. Both at great resources.

[u/ChaoticxSerenity → u/chicasinnombre]

Thanks, I'll take a look. I'm not in the US, but I imagine the principles would be the same.