Is Now The Time To Get HR To Update Procurement Job Descriptions?

Judging by the jobs page on the Next Level Purchasing site and other job posting media, hiring seems to be slowly picking up. So, in your organization, you may find yourself in the relieving circumstance of being able to advertise for a vacant procurement position.

Due to the recession, many positions that have become vacant in the past 12 to 15 months were simply not backfilled. And it may have been years since the previous incumbent was hired. This has implications for job descriptions.

Many job descriptions now require or prefer candidates with a purchasing certification. If the job description you have on file was created in 2004 or earlier, there is a good chance that it may reference the C.P.M. certification, available through ISM.

Well, this past Thursday (December 31, 2009) was the last day someone could take a C.P.M. exam. So, if someone has not yet taken the exam, they will never become a C.P.M.

Because of this deadline, one has to asks: if someone cannot get the C.P.M. certification, should it even be in a job description?

Personally, I feel that, from this point forward, the C.P.M. should not be in any job description used to fill an open position. More modern certifications like the SPSM^® Certification, available through Next Level Purchasing, are out there, so why not update the job descriptions and requirements now?

An argument may be that there are many sharp people who have earned the C.P.M. Actually, I agree that many sharp people have earned the C.P.M. But many of those people have also kept up-to-date and earned the SPSM and/or newer credentials from ISM. If a purchasing professional stops at the C.P.M. when there are newer alternatives that are still earnable (as opposed to being phased out), what does that say about the purchasing professional's commitment to his or her profession?

For those readers that are C.P.M.'s, I want to be clear that I'm not saying that it is not honorable to have earned the C.P.M. It is honorable. What I am saying is that stopping there may have the appearance to employers that there is unfinished business.

Yep, it's time to talk with HR about those job descriptions. As the economy improves and you get ready to advertise purchasing jobs, be sure that the certifications you are preferring or requiring are the ones that represent procurement today and tomorrow, not yesterday.

To Your Career,
Charles Dominick, SPSM
President & Chief Procurement Officer
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
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