A procurement recruitment expert has cautioned specialists in procurement recruitment and supply chain recruitment to not rely too heavily on automation tech when sourcing talent.
Procurement recruitment veteran Andrew Jones advocates a little scepticism toward the rapid digitisation in the procurement recruitment space. In a nutshell, his message is that this technology is not a substitute for exacting qualities that only minds can discern.
Conceding that emerging platforms like social media and online job boards have transformed the shape of procurement recruitment and supply chain recruitment, as they have in all other areas of the staffing industry, Jones cautions that such tools “are far from fool-proof.”
However, he is not advocating a backwards-looking, Luddite approach. Jones accepts that platforms such as LinkedIn “have mostly changed recruiting for the better.” But recruiters who have fallen into the habit of adopting a hands-off approach to vetting candidates for procurement jobs, including interims positions, will find that these platforms generally encourage their own worst tendencies.
Jones insists that this remains a crucial ingredient for effective recruitment and it inevitably necessitates direct human-to-human interaction. He says, “The talent an organization manages to attract and retain is only going to be as good as the effort they put into locating, assessing, and ultimately on-boarding that talent.”
Sometimes returning to older tech pays rich dividends: picking up the phone and having conversations with candidates for procurement jobs can make a big difference. Jones is adamant that the best procurement recruitment firms “go the extra mile and put a human face on their efforts.” Relying on digital platforms alone can render an organisation unable to properly vet candidates and likely to match the wrong applicant to the wrong opportunity.
The most advanced tools won’t dispense with the need for effective procurement recruitment consultants, Jones concludes. “Swiping left” may help eliminate mismatched candidates before the interview, but it can’t help recruiters decide between equally promising applicants. Only human judgement can do that.
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