What are Supply Chain Superstars Looking for in an Employer?

This guest post comes to us from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting, a boutique recruitment firm specializing in Supply Chain Management. A few weeks ago, we offered an infographic that laid out key skills (hard skills + soft skills) that employers are looking for when hiring Supply Chain professionals. In that post, we condensed many discussions with hiring managers and senior directors in the field into key points of expertise that any Supply Chain professional should develop when building their career. Today, we’re flipping the script to offer advice to companies and hiring managers, based on the scores of conversations our recruiters have every day with top candidates in the field, with the goal of answering the following question: what exactly are the high-achieving, high-performers within Supply Chain looking for in a prospective employer? Companies that invest in developing talent in a field as strategically rich as Supply Chain can expect huge dividends. But hiring is a two-way street. In this market, (especially when Supply Chain professionals are in higher demand than ever) companies need to do all they can to appeal to top performers when hiring. They also need to do all they can to make sure that their best Supply Chain talent stays with the company for 5 years and beyond, growing into leadership roles internally instead of moving on after 18 months because of a lack of opportunity. So what are Supply Chain superstars looking for? Conventional wisdom would hold that compensation is the most important factor when it comes to whether someone wants to work for a company, and stay at that company long-term. But surprisingly, our conversations with top candidates have shown us that modern Supply Chain professionals are more concerned with other factors, which our infographic outlines below:

  Priorities for top candidates in the field come down to a few simple desires and goals beyond making money: Today’s leading Supply Chain professionals want to make an impact where they work. They want to add value. They want to grow and improve not only their own organizations, but their own understanding of the world and Supply Chain’s place within it. As with the previous infographic in this series, this post is meant to condense complex points into an easily-digestible format. Dig into Argentus' archives for further coverage of what companies can do to attract the best candidates in the field. As a leading recruiter in the Supply Chain space, we’re happy to be connected with a number of these star performers. The recruitment business terms them “White whales,” “purple squirrels,” “unicorns” and other colourful terms. But whatever you call them, these candidates are the ones that truly move organizations into the future – hence why they’re in such high demand, and why companies need to do all they can to attract and retain them. As Steve Jobs famously said, “a small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” So there’s nothing more satisfying as a recruiter than placing an A+ player in a place where they’ll be poised to make a serious impact. Thanks to the Argentus recruiters who provided their input for this article!