Balfour Beatty’s UK Procurement & Supply Chain Director; Nurturing New Talent & Centralising Your Procurement Function with Evan Sutherland #48

“Good people, regardless of function, generally have a choice. We've worked hard to get our hiring managers in a mindset that, when they go into the interview, it is a two-way thing.”The market for new, ambitious procurement professionals might seem relatively thin right now, but could our industry set our sights further afield to create a wider talent pool with more varied skill sets?Balfour Beatty’s Evan Sutherland has witnessed the benefits of being open-minded, and the missed opportunities that come from being too picky. After all, since procurement is a function that touches so many parts of the business, are candidates from commercial, marketing, finance, or anywhere in between not equipped with transferable skills?On this episode of Talent Talks, Evan discusses the ever-growing focus on soft skills and attitude, his desire for a more centralised approach to procurement across the board, and how an openness to technology can transform the role that our function plays in generating bottom line revenue.This episode of Talent Talks covers:Nurturing and developing a prolific talent poolHow businesses can adapt to the job-rich, candidate-light marketCentralising your procurement function to create a more cohesive unitThe essential need for soft skills and personabilityWays in which we can encourage more promising young professionals into the industryThe Talent Talks Podcast is proudly sponsored by Barkers Commercial Consultancy. Barkers are a multi-award-winning ethical, procurement consultancy offering specialist services including cost and procurement transformation, contract lifecycle management, procurement managed services, bid writing services and digital procurement https://barkersprocurement.com/Links and references at: https://talentdrive.co.uk/