Kim Harmer, partner in Chicago-based technology recruitment specialists Harmer Associates LLP, can barely keep afloat of the flood of phone calls and queries for electronic commerce candidates. Since the beginning of the year, Harmer says the clamor for professionals skilled in Internet-related procurement positions in particular has surged tenfold, powered by the rush of business-to-business sites popping up on the Web.
“I’m working frantically trying to get these positions staffed,” she said. “It’s the hottest segment in technology jobs.”
And it’s not cooling off yet. Recent disclosures that old-line behemoths are joining forces to create industry-specific on-line purchasing sites intensify the need for technology executives who know their way around the Web and the business environment. Hoffman Estates-based retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. and France’s Carrefour SA, for example, last month announced they will launch GlobalNetXchange, which should soon become the dominant retail industry electronic marketplace. Only three days earlier, auto giants Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG agreed to create a single automotive-parts dot-com exchange.
Be the business automotive or retail, there is a huge new demand for those who understand, can create and can maintain these on-line business-to-business bazaars. These Web sites, often referred to as trade exchanges because of their similarity to commodities exchanges, quickly are altering the fundamental tenets of business and creating jobs that many companies never thought they might need.
“We’re looking for everything from Web-site architects and front-end developers to software engineers. We’re also in need of business analysts and senior executives who understand the business side of things to define what the requirements are to go into these Web sites,” Harmer said.
The salaries are generally high and most include stock options. Harmer’s clients, for example, include procurement dot-com start-ups that need executives with anywhere from nine months experience on the Web to 10-plus years experience in leading edge initiatives.
On average, she estimated, base salaries jump 5 percent to 15 percent–usually on already high double-digit wages–with substantial pre-initial public offering shares. Of course, signing bonuses are de rigeur.
Even recent college graduates have impressive opportunities. “Anybody coming out of school with a supply-chain management or logistics management degree is a hot commodity,” said Charles Koehn, DaimlerChrysler’s manager of recruiting and management training. That presumes, of course, that most grads are computer savvy. The new kids are commanding attractive packages of $40,000 to $50,000 bases salaries plus signing bonuses. Koehn says he does a lot of recruiting from such innovative places as Western Michigan University, whose supply-chain management program combines purchasing skills with engineering.
What makes these positions even more attractive is that as the basic methods of business change, so too does the importance and prominence of procurement within the organization. With an average of nearly 60 percent of total operating costs in most companies earmarked for materials, the buyer becomes one of the most powerful individuals in a company. It’s not inconceivable that, like marketing and finance directors of the last two decades, purchasing directors can now find a spot on the path to CEO, say experts.
Purchasing and other procurement-related expertise traditionally has not been the most glamorous of corporate positions. In many companies, the purchasing agents were once secretaries or administrative aides who worked their way up to more responsibilities. Ultimately, they were the ones who decided where and when to buy materials, decisions that often were based on years-long relationships with suppliers.
The Internet, of course, is changing all that. Through these business-to-business trade exchanges, companies are posting their materials needs to a broader list of suppliers. The suppliers, in turn, bid for the sales, usually offering the lowest prices. The exchanges generally also are open to the vendors, who then purchase their own materials there.
The advantages to companies large and small are obvious: purchasing costs fall, oftentimes dramatically; and more companies are able to get in on the action. That means, however, that entire procurement departments could well be eliminated to make way for young techno-geeks.
“As soon as major initiatives (such as those announced in the retail and automotive industries) that represent huge dollars rolls out, people will recognize that purchasing is a high-profile job,” said Steve Walton, assistant professor at Emory College in Atlanta.
