How to attract and keep the best procurement professionals in 2025

While you're here, the latest CIPS Procurement & Supply Salary Survey is live, and we'd greatly appreciate your input. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and will help you benchmark your salary, skills, job level and qualifications. The survey closes at 23:59 GMT on Friday 14 March. Click here to complete the survey.

The CIPS Procurement & Supply Salary Guide 2024, in partnership with Hays, shows employers must adopt a diverse strategy to attract and retain procurement talent – paying fair salaries, fostering inclusivity, involving staff in bonus decisions, and investing in training to unlock full potential. 

In our webinar How to get top procurement and supply talent into your organisation (and keep it), we asked experts from Costa Coffee, Defra Group Commercial, and Hays for their top tips for staff recruitment and retention in 2025.  

Here are eight of the best: 

1. Know your audience 

Identify clearly who you’re trying to attract and retain. What do new staff members need to get started? What do you need to do to keep existing staff members engaged? These are key areas that procurement teams need to work through – and get right. 

2. Deliver great inductions 

An induction begins before a staff member joins an organisation and is important to nail, says Andy Mayes MBA MCIPS, chief operating officer – commercial at Defra Group Commercial. Inductions set the tempo for the relationships you build with new staff members and help them to feel welcomed. “What's vital is building the relationship as early as possible, which you can do by delivering a great staff handbook, and by removing the fear of asking questions,” says Andy. 

3. Celebrate success 

Recognising good work is vital for ensuring people feel acknowledged and valued. “At Defra, we do this by providing a monthly shout out for people, and through giving staff awards that financially recognise their contributions,” says Andy. 

4. Keep applications and onboarding simple 

A complicated application or onboarding process can be off-putting. “The harder you make it to apply for a role, the less applications you’re going to receive,” says Linda Todd, business director at Hays. “The smoother your application process, the better,” she adds. A good approach for onboardings is to keep your communication with a new employee consistent, ensuring the information they receive sets the right tone. 

5. Work on your brand 

Your employer brand is your company's reputation, mission, vision, and culture, which helps attract talent and promote your values externally. 

Simon Hannak, global head of procurement at Costa Coffee, notes that employers of procurement professionals must promote what they do better but also hire people who are passionate about procurement – who can sell the benefits of it too. “You need to show that you’re proud to work in procurement,” says Simon. “This is the purpose and vision you must sell to prospective hires.” 

Linda backs up this point, adding: “You need to explain the story of your organisation and how the roles of the people you’re recruiting for fit into that.” 

6. Use networking to your advantage 

Networking isn’t just a way to build relationships and raise your profile. It’s also a great recruitment tool. CIPS events and webinars are an excellent way to connect with job-seeking procurement professionals around the world.  

Simon finds networking to be a hugely useful recruiting tool and says employers should attend a range of events and webinars to find the candidates they need. 

7. Invest in training  

This could include supporting your team through training to achieve the CIPS designation and global standard, MCIPS, or enrolling them on CIPS skills training or applied learning. Employers in the UK can utilise the apprenticeship levy to grow and develop procurement professionals – as Costa has done to great success.  

“Exposing your staff to a wide range of training is vital,” says Linda. “Doing so can unlock the type of growth and development that will help you attract more people, keep more people, and sell your story better.” 

As our 2024 salary guide showed, some 64% of procurement and supply professionals across the UK expect organisations to value procurement qualifications more highly over the next decade – so commitment to training is key. 

8. Focus on succession-planning 

Succession planning helps you identify and grow suitable talent for future business-critical and leadership roles. Linda says this is something employers of procurement professionals must focus on to thrive long-term.  

“It’s important to recognise that not everyone is going to stay with you for a long time,” she says. “Welcome that and make sure that when you’re recruiting, you’re being flexible in your requirements and prepared to compromise.” You may not be able to replace everyone you lose, but succession planning will enable you to plan ahead and focus on the broader skills you need, she adds.