In what is surely a “sign o’ the times,” over the past two weeks, I have connected with several leading Chief Procurement Officers who are all moving on to other opportunities – sometimes by choice, sometimes not. One of the leaders is moving to the ‘dark side’ (i.e. consulting) and is thoroughly excited to begin the next stage in an already successful career – the move sounds like a great one for this CPO (who was next up in the queue of our “award-winning” profile series, CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – We are getting back to this series directly and this CPO will appear anonymously). Another CPO was promoted (we’ve talked about the very real trend of CPOs moving on to larger roles) and is in the process of transitioning into a new role that has significantly greater responsibility.  The third, call him “3-CPO” :-), is considering what his next move will be. I expect it will either be a move into another CPO role or, given his entrepreneurial nature and strong network, a move to a smaller solutions company that services the procurement field.

So, the CPO industry, in a matter of weeks, has seen three of its leaders move on. Now, the flip side of these transitions is that their employers (or former employers) are hiring new CPOs. Between those positions and a few others that have hit my inbox this month, the CPO job market is hot; and, as in any hot market, the comp packages for these positions are quite competitive.

CPOs and aspiring CPOs, it is time to dust off those resumes. When the right opportunity knocks, you want to be there to answer the door.

The lack of tenure that pervades western society today, has hit the ranks of the Chief Procurement Officer. A generation ago, an employee could reasonably expect to spend 15-20 years with an employer and have no more than 3 employers over an entire career. That is no longer the case and hasn’t been for some time. Our grandparents and, for some readers, our parents had the expectation of a stable career (Of course, noone in these earlier generations really had a shot a becoming a CPO. As such, I guess it is fair to say that things weren’t always so great in the past). There is no reason to think that this will change anytime soon.

Last year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) reported the median number of years that wage and salary workers in the US had been with their current employer was 4.4 (2011 numbers should be coming out soon). In 2008, the median employee tenure was 4.1 years – the BLS reports that the uptick in the 2010 number is not actually a trend but rather a reflection of the “relatively large job losses among less-senior workers in the most recent recession.” Hmm

One demographic note that was not surprising was that the median employee tenure of workers in their 50s and 60s was three times larger than that of workers aged 25-34 (3.1 years).

I’ll say it again, especially to our younger readers – it is time to dust off that resume – based upon the market demographics, the odds are you’ll be needing it sooner than you think.

To borrow another site’s traditional closing “Here’s to your career!” It should be much more interesting or in any case, much more varied than your parents’ – now, this also means that it should be actively managed.

Tagged in: Chief Procurement Officer, CPO, CPO Shop Talk