Cordie procurement apprentices were treated to another great ‘Employment Insights’ session earlier today, when Director of Procurement, Mark Revell from the L&Q Group presented an overview of his career journey to the top of the profession.
Cordie’s Employment Insights sessions are held every 4-6 months for all of our procurement apprentices. Each session is built upon a relevant employment theme for procurement professionals and we invite along a senior procurement practitioner to give an insight to their personal career journey and any lessons they have learned along the way.
Today’s session was attended by 20 learners and the theme was: Transferable Skills in Procurement. The procurement profession is one of the few professional disciplines that every organisation requires, irrespective of sector or country. The term ‘transferable’ relates to the portability of a skill that someone can take with them to their next job role, irrespective of whether it is in the same employing organisation or elsewhere.
Mark Revell is the Director of Procurement for Construction & Estates at L&G Group, one of the UK’s leading social housing providers and a not-for-profit organisation. It has over 105,000 properties around the UK and an annual spend in excess of £1.3bn, with a procurement team just under 40 full-time employees that are required to deliver value-for-money and social purpose all within the UK’s public procurement regulations.
Mark gave an overview of his career journey, explaining how he first gained his CIPS qualifications via day-release lectures in the 1980s before then going on to work in the health sector (NHS), the financial services sector (Barclays and Credit Suisse) and more recently within central government and housing (DCLG and L&Q). His career has included postings in the UK, Kenya, Singapore, Zurich and New York.
When asked which was the one transferable skill that any procurement apprentice could quickly apply to have the biggest impact upon their career, Mark immediately replied:
“Attitude! Success in procurement is all about your attitude and having a ‘can do’ mindset when working with colleagues and suppliers. All other knowledge and skills and can be taught, but attitude is what you can bring to the job to make it a success!”
We are planning two more Employment Insights sessions over the next year. These will be open to all procurement apprentices across the Level 3 and Level 4 programmes (and the new Level 6 programme when it starts in early 2024). Following the excellent feedback from our first two sessions in 2023, we will continue to invite guest speakers from other senior roles across procurement. The next session will involve a senior practitioner from the private sector.
If you would like to find out more about our Employment Insights sessions, or any additional information about the Cordie procurement apprenticeship programmes, do please get in touch with us via the contact form at the bottom of this page. We look forward to hearing from you!