The Procurement Skills Crisis Is Real - and It’s Getting Worse
Why the profession keeps hiring the wrong talent and what needs to change before it’s too late
Procurement is hiring for yesterday’s world.
That’s the central message behind James Meads’ punchy LinkedIn post that struck a nerve with the global procurement community. And not without reason: in 2025, job descriptions still call for Excel mastery, SAP MM familiarity, RFP drafting, and robotic process adherence. Meanwhile, AI agents, orchestration layers, and user-friendly front ends are doing exactly those jobs - faster, cheaper, and better.
So why are we still stuck in the past?
Because much of procurement isn’t ready to let go of its old identity. And companies - especially large, bloated ones - are just as guilty for perpetuating a hiring cycle that keeps the wrong people in the right roles.
But as the comments from the profession revealed, something is finally shifting. And for those willing to adapt, it’s not just about replacing skills - it’s about redefining what makes procurement valuable.
Obsolete Skills, Persistent Myths
James didn’t mince words. Excel? Becoming a liability. SAP modules? Invisible behind orchestration layers. RFPs? Rewritten by AI. Compliance checks? Handled by autonomous agents.
Yet these are still the core criteria in far too many procurement job descriptions. The result? A function weighed down by redundancy and slow to respond to the changes around it.
Dana Evans offered a skeptical counterpoint: she’s seen this movie before. From legacy systems to SAP, Oracle, CLM tools, and now AI—the promise has always been improved agility and productivity. Reality? Constant rework, more silos, and fragmented processes. In her words: “I still haven’t seen anything that enhances the process and makes it better.”
And here’s where the rift begins: legacy pain vs. future promise. One camp is understandably disillusioned. The other sees a clean slate—and a massive opportunity.
James fired back: “Without automation and user-friendly tools, it will become extremely difficult to recruit and retain ambitious, creative and visionary procurement talent.” He’s right. We cannot build the future of procurement on Frankenspreadsheets and duct-taped processes.
The Case for Soft Skills - and Then Some
Several other industry people underscored a growing consensus: the future of procurement isn’t just technical. It’s relational.
Aiman Nadeem nailed it: stakeholder management isn’t optional—it’s mission critical. And as Hannah Kraakman’s poll highlighted, 65% of hiring managers now prioritize soft skills over hard skills or category experience.
James doubled down: communication must evolve beyond meetings and emails. Visuals, podcasts, short courses, social content—procurement needs to engage like marketers, speak like storytellers, and think like product managers.
Olga C. called out adaptability, communication, and leadership as the traits that will distinguish great teams from average ones. And Mathew Schulz summed it up: “We're moving really, really fast. It’s happening in quarters and months, not years.”
Yet soft skills alone won’t save procurement. As Michael Zieba argued, negotiation has become more complex than ever—especially in the SaaS-dominated tech landscape. Procurement can no longer afford to just “run an RFP.” They need to:
Decode usage-based pricing models
Detect CPI-linked uplifts hidden in multi-year contracts
Counter vendor tactics masked as “partnerships”
Minimize shelfware and over-licensing risks
Reclaim flexibility in license reallocation
In short: procurement needs commercial storytellers who know how to shift leverage before the vendor even enters the room.
Value Creation > Cost Cutting
Ramendra Singh raised a fundamental challenge: why is procurement still so obsessed with cost cutting instead of value creation?
The answer is cultural. Procurement has long been rewarded for savings—not impact. But that mindset is now a liability.
As James responded: “Talk to your CFO. Figure out what they care about. Speak their language. Don’t just fix P2P issues—solve real problems.”
The real value of procurement today lies in its ability to orchestrate, influence, and co-create. Not execute orders from 10-year-old policy binders.
What World-Class Procurement Will Look Like
James envisions the future of procurement in five traits:
Entrepreneurial
Improvisational
Technologically literate
Multichannel communicators
Agile, like the best product teams
This is a far cry from the compliance-driven gatekeepers of the past.
And yet, even now, most job specs remain uninspired. As Supratim Roy quipped: “Procurement needs to speak 2030.” But most teams are still stuck in 2012.
So What Needs to Change?
Rewrite job descriptions. Ditch the SAP/MM/Excel checklists. Prioritize adaptability, negotiation, systems thinking, and creative communication.
Invest in training for the new skills. This doesn’t mean buying another CLM tool. It means training people to think, speak, and act like strategic advisors.
Rethink what success looks like. Savings are easy to quantify. Influence, resilience, and value creation aren’t—but they matter far more.
Elevate tech literacy. Not everyone needs to code. But everyone should know how AI, agents, and no-code tools are reshaping workflows.
Embrace risk and experimentation. Yes, tech can fail. But refusing to modernize is a bigger risk. As James put it, today’s tools aren’t Ariba 1.0—they’re miles ahead.
Final Thoughts: Procurement at a Crossroads
There are two types of procurement teams emerging:
Those clinging to control, locked into old systems, hiring based on outdated checklists.
And those who are entrepreneurial, adaptive, and willing to reinvent themselves around stakeholder needs and modern tools.
The first will struggle to attract talent. The second will define what procurement means in 2030.
 | A guest post by
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