The Perfect Opportunity

Ryan Vemmer -- Purchasing, 6/15/2000

The e-commerce industry has created an almost mythological idea as far as career opportunities go, as if there is a pot of gold at the end of every e-rainbow leading to a remarkably high paying job. In some cases this may be true, certainly many people, purchasing pros included, have found tremendous advancement in this way. But a purchasing professional even casually looking to make a career change should use caution on their way to any pot of gold.

E-mythology

Huge pay increases, stock options, tremendous benefits and tons of jobs are all things many of us have heard about the job market as impacted by the presence of a seemingly endless supply of e-commerce and dot.com ventures.

"Nothing stands out like e-commerce," says Kevin Rohan, purchasing specialist at JP Canon Associates in New York. As a recruiter in the field he has a unique vantage point, he hears it day in and day out. He describes the sort of romanticized view of dot.coms and e-commerce as a "friends and neighbors" tall tale, partly based in reality and partly blown out of proportion.

"People will often call us because they have been prompted by a friend, neighbor or family member that has changed jobs 'for a lot more money' or 'you helped my friend get a 30% increase, and I feel like I am underpaid and would like to explore what is out there. 'While it is true that this does happen, it still represents a small market segment. The majority of people still fall within that 10%-15% increase on the open market," Rohan says.

This is really good news for a recruiter because more people are looking, but this trend may be pushing people to start looking when they may not have done this otherwise. As a result a recruiter will find more people passively looking, but who also might have created somewhat unrealistic expectations, which might cloud their judgement. A good recruiter will advise, as best they can, if they think it is a good or bad time to change jobs.

Rohan notes that companies have become more aggressive in employee-retention programs which could be good news for purchasing professionals, even if they are not looking for work. Companies may offer a better package just because they are worried that you might leave.

"In a recent situation a major New Jersey food company not only matched a competitive offer, but also offered a pay-to-stay bonus," Rohan adds.

Other companies have dealt with their employee-retention worries in other ways such as offering "pre-emptive" raises if they sense that a competitor might be looking to lure purchasers away. However, Rohan has found that some traditional compensation incentives, such as certain overtime pay programs and similar plans have been much less successful than in the past.

Also on the plus side is the benefit of keeping a careful eye on the purchasing job scene; the more a job seeker knows about the opportunities the more they will know about the market, and that is always a good thing. The main thing is to keep levelheaded, and not to take the "perfect opportunity" idea and make it overblown in your mind.

Reality

The purchasing industry may not know for some time the true impact of dot.coms and overall e-commerce on the job market in the long term. Regardless, the skill set needed by a purchasing pro on the job today and in the near future are evolving in a more concrete way.

Purchasers must be computer savvy and understand that their more tactical functions (i.e. paper-based purchase orders and other more hands-on processes) will go by the wayside in favor of larger scale electronic functions. This is because e-commerce has shown itself to be so much more efficient, especially for high volume, repetitive, low-cost transactions such as office supplies and MRO, Rohan says. "This allows purchasing professionals to be more strategic and project management focused."

The market in all segments and parts of the country has been and is likely to continue to be strong electronic or otherwise, with an emphasis on the lower/midrange job level.