Managing one's procurement career is obviously not easy in an age of mergers and acquisitions, rapid technological changes, frequent re-organizations, increased global risk management activity, procurement process outsourcing, and overseas sourcing. None of us can fully predict the face of procurement in 10-15 years across corporate America.

Therefore, a procurement professional, now more than ever, needs to plan their career and not simply look at the next rung on the ladder. It is vital to consider your long-term career and life goals, and map out your career accordingly, in light of the factors mentioned above. While those factors can play havoc in the short-term with your career, you can still succeed in the long-term. But you can only succeed if you have defined success for yourself.

The most important activity you can undertake now is to identify your intentions — with the input of those closest to you, identify and write down your primary goals. This should be done for multiple timeframes, e.g., one-year, five-year, 10-year goals. Geographic location in the short or longer term may be very important to you and your family. Or perhaps rising to a particular level in your profession or minimizing business trips is a top priority. Everyone is different. What is important is that you recognize what matters most to you and do not simply take what comes your way, hoping for the best.

As you develop your goals, you should network with people who have successfully attained similar goals so that you may benefit from their lessons learned. Perhaps, this can be done through informal conversations or informational interviews. Through this process, you may refine your goals, be able to avoid missteps and also get valuable advice regarding future career moves. Decisions should be made around factors including certifications or degrees to pursue, the extent to which you want to be an expert for a particular category vs. being a generalist, your preferred industries, geographic preferences, and amount of business travel to which to commit.

If you look only at the next career move, then, during the job search process, you may become enticed by a title, salary package, attractive location, or prestigious company name and forget about the initial reason you even decided to search for a new job. While factors like title, pay, location, and company obviously have a strong role to play in your decisions, they should all be considered in terms of advancing your overall goals.

This may seem like a lot of work, especially when the job market is strong and you can readily find new career opportunities. But you will benefit by recalling that many of those factors that sway you toward making a jump to a new employer may change suddenly in today's world. For example, a company culture that entices you may change dramatically if that company is acquired by another corporation or a private equity firm. Or you may make a move based on getting an appealing salary package and then learn that the company's earnings are falling short, leaving you without a bonus or minimal salary increases.

If you have mapped out your long and short-term career goals, you will better understand how your employer, despite any changes, can still help you to succeed. Or, if you do decide to exit, having goals will assist in making the most career-advantageous move and preventing a series of job-hopping episodes.

Whatever goals you choose for yourself, they should be updated annually. And keep in mind that the procurement function and your employers' organizations will continue to transform, and you will need skills in both adapting to and, more importantly, being an agent for process transformation. You do not need to follow each trend or fad that comes along, but you must focus on how you add value to your changing organization.