Recruitment of Demand & Supply Planner in Stockholm (Pharmaceuticals Industry)
2022-04-14
Procurement Category Manager, Chemicals (Process Industry)
2025-07-16Recruitment of Demand & Supply Planner in Stockholm (Pharmaceuticals Industry)
2022-04-14Procurement Category Manager, Chemicals (Process Industry)
2025-07-16
A major construction company was looking to strengthen the part of the procurement team that focuses on the development of tools and methods for the whole central organization consisting of around 30 Strategic Buyers, Category Managers, and Group Category Managers.
Strategic spend items spanned across both direct and indirect categories, so this part of the team focused on improvement projects across the entire team. The overall objective was to increase the maturity of the procurement organization. The method involved building specific business cases around particular category groups and working with the line procurement organization to elevate the level in each specific category group.
The company utilized a procurement maturity model developed by a management consultancy firm to identify each category's position on the development journey. They then worked collaboratively with cross-functional teams to advance those categories further.
Some of the categories were at a relatively advanced level, while others were still quite transactional. This meant the candidate would need to be comfortable switching gears. I believed it was critical for success in this role that the person be open to and interested in developing different categories, essentially driving multiple projects across various maturity levels.
The mission of this person is to drive transformational change management with very hands-on focus when representative of this group together with the Category Manager responsible for the area draft the strategy and walk together while executing it.
My brief was to find a person who could wear several hats: first, someone with solid knowledge of procurement best practices who could advise and coach the organization on incremental improvements in sourcing and category management strategy. Second, someone who could drive the development of methods for the whole company, meaning they needed the right mindset and motivation for functional role and process and method development work.
Based on my local market knowledge, and in line with clients requirements I made several assumptions and defined Ideal Candidate Profile (ICP).
To succeed in this role the ideal candidate needed previous experience from organizations with mature procurement functions. Having seen what "good" looks like, they would be able to drive transformation aligned with the company's long-term vision.
I applied market knowledge and segmented companies in the greater Stockholm area by their procurement organization's maturity level.
Since the role involves working with an organization highly exposed to direct categories (raw materials, components, etc.), it was important that candidates had experience with both direct and indirect categories.
This person needed to have strong motivation to drive change and be comfortable dealing with various stakeholders, without shying away from challenging transformation projects. These capabilities stem less from experience and more from specific personality traits and intrinsic motivations. The assessment was made during the screening calls and interviews.
To recruit effectively for complex transformation roles, it’s essential to look beyond the job title or list of responsibilities. The above slide outlines layered approach to uncovering the true mission of a procurement role by mapping four key dimensions:
Responsibilities — What the job ad states: typically includes tasks like category strategy, tool development, and stakeholder engagement. Important but often only the surface level.
Operational Reality — What the role actually looks like in day-to-day execution: fragmented categories, varied system maturity, and inconsistent process usage. Understanding this is critical for success.
Organizational Intent — What the company is trying to change or improve, such as moving from tactical to strategic procurement, or aligning procurement with business objectives.
Long-Term Ambition — The future vision for the function. The right candidate must be motivated by where the organization is heading, not just where it is today.
This layered view allows us to define a much more accurate and actionable candidate profile — one that aligns with the real needs of the business.
To understand where candidates gain relevant experience, I mapped the procurement talent market by two dimensions:
Strategic Influence (vertical) and Procurement Maturity (horizontal).
Quadrant 1
(High Influence, Low Maturity)
Candidates from organizations where procurement has influence but operates without structured frameworks. These profiles are often hands-on and resilient, but may lack scalable methods.
Quadrant 2
(Low Influence, Low Maturity)
Candidates operating in transactional or tactical environments. Limited exposure to strategic levers. Often motivated to grow but need more support to shift into transformation roles.
Quadrant 3
(Low Influence, High Maturity)
These candidates follow mature processes but play a support role. Comfortable with governance and compliance, but rarely lead cross-functional change.
Quadrant 4
(High Influence, High Maturity)
Ideal profiles for transformation roles. They’ve worked in structured procurement environments and are used to driving strategic projects that span across functions and categories.
This framework helps assess both skills and context, not just experience in years or job titles.
When recruiting for procurement transformation roles, evaluating experience alone is not enough. This slide outlines Talent Supply’s candidate potential framework, built on three interconnected dimensions:
Traits — How a person naturally behaves in uncertain or high-pressure situations. This shapes how they navigate complexity and influence others.
Drivers — What energizes the candidate to act. Some are motivated by structure, others by challenge, collaboration, or impact. Understanding this helps align roles with intrinsic motivation.
Competencies — The candidate’s demonstrated skills and abilities. This includes both functional procurement expertise and behavioral strengths such as stakeholder alignment or change management.
By looking at all three areas together, I gain a much more complete view of whether a candidate will thrive in a role, not just succeed on paper.
As expected, the shortlist included a diverse mix of strong candidates. Some came from procurement development roles with both business and systems focus. Others had strong procurement category management backgrounds with a keen interest in developing tools and methods.
Since procurement roles typically require time to demonstrate impact, I gather feedback from hiring managers not only immediately after placement but also after at least one year. I was delighted to learn that this candidate was performing exceptionally well and was considered an excellent hire. The CPO's direct feedback was simply: "very good recruitment indeed." Additionally, the placed candidate has shared very positive feedback about the company, its transformation ambition, and the teams.
