By Susan Avery

December 17, 2015 at 10:10 AM

Recently, a friend who works in procurement told me that the job market for procurement professionals is hot. So, I wasn’t surprised to learn that the most-read article at My Purchasing Center in 2015 is one written by recruiter Kevin Rohan of J.P. Canon, How to Prepare for a Procurement Job Interview. The piece has valuable information for job seekers and leaders of procurement teams looking to add a new member or two.

As in previous years, other top procurement articles in 2015, according to our readers, cover commodities markets–particularly steel, nonferrous metals, paper and packaging and chemicals and plastics (polyethylene). My Purchasing Center Contributing Editors John Hall and Doug Smock are responsible for researching and writing these annual price forecasts.

John has also written several other of the articles on the My Purchasing Center Top 10 including a profile of Peter Carlsson, Supply Chain Vice President at Tesla, and Where Are They Now? When Procurement Career Paths Diverge. Doug also writes on the relationship between engineering, procurement and manufacturing and pieces such as Procurement Skill at Managing Risk Helps in Supply Disruption of Engineering Plastics.

My Purchasing Center Blogger Paulo Moretti posted the popular Purchasing Metrics: Tracking Cost Savings, Capital Reductions and Avoidances and in 2015 he wrote a series of articles on the chemicals and plastics markets for commodity managers responsible for developing sourcing strategies. Paulo Moretti is Principal at PM2Consult.com.

Another blog post that generated much reader interest in 2015, especially in the My Purchasing Center LinkedIn group, was contributed by our partner Source One Management Services, The Future of Procurement is SRM by Joe Payne.

These articles and blogs are in addition to some perennial reader favorites (some since our launch in 2011!): Category Management: Beyond the “Strategic” in Strategic Sourcing posted by our partner, The Hackett Group; Best Advice on MRO Inventory Management: Just Start and Metrics for Purchasing: A Framework that Works, also written by Paulo Moretti.

To put together the My Purchasing Center Top 10 Procurement Articles in 2015, we consider only the most- read articles and blogs posted on the site in the previous year (and which did not make the list in 2014).

The My Purchasing Center Top 10 Procurement Articles in 2015 are:
1. How to Prepare for a Procurement Job Interview by Kevin Rohan, Director, Procurement Recruiting Lead

at J.P. Canon Associates.

7. 10 Procurement Metrics to Strengthen Organizational Performance by My Purchasing Center Contributing Editor Nikita Saharia Chaturvedi.

10. Nonferrous Metals Price Forecast by John Hall. Year of the Podcast
For My Purchasing Center, 2015 was the year of the podcast (we posted 58–more than one a week!), thanks mainly to Nikita Saharia Chaturvedi who interviewed movers and shakers in procurement on the latest news and hot trends. Her interview with Andy Kohn, CEO at VendOp, is our most-listened to podcast in 2015, VendOp Provides Procurement with Online Reviews of Suppliers. Nikita also blogged on many of the topics she covered in the podcasts as well.

Speaking of podcasts, we’d also like to give a shout out to BravoSolution’s Mickey North Rizza for continuing her captivating podcast series, Minutes with Mickey, in which she shares her procurement and supply management expertise on current events with our listeners. Most recently, she and I have discussed due diligence in the supply chain (regarding unfair labor practices and pending government regulations).

Year in Review

In the past year, My Purchasing Center Contributing Editors and others reported on such topics as the West Coast ports crisis and its impact on the supply chain, sustainable procurement (in a new report) and supplier diversity at automaker Chrysler. We looked at procurement hiring, salaries and sourcing in Eastern Europe. We covered events such as IBM Empower 2015 and webcasts such as Procurement 2015: Benchmarking the Best in Class.

We continued our series of one-on-one interviews with Chief Procurement Officers at global companies such as Tom Linton at Flex, Bill Mangen at Cox Communications, Bob Murphy at IBM and Mary Kachinsky at FORMA Therapeutics. If you missed these articles, check them out for insight into the procurement leaders’ strategies for their companies. (Mangen received the 2015 Excellence in Purchasing Indirect Categories Career Award.)

In 2015, we added to our editorial team of contributors and bloggers: Viet Ho, CPO at Russell Investments and 2015 EPIC Individual Award recipient, who reports on sourcing in Vietnam. One of his pieces is High- Tech Manufacturing in Vietnam: China Plus One. Julienne Ryan, Principal, J. Ryan Partners, who writes on career issues, also became a regular contributor. Her Playbook for Navigating the Holiday Dinner Table as You Look for a Job is especially timely.

Among the others who contributed for the first time in 2015 is C.L. Good, Managing Director at Conway Mackenzie and procurement veteran, who recently posted two articles MRO Purchasing: Less Visited Source of Value and The Value of Dedicated Buyers to Smaller Organizations you don’t want to miss, and

the team at APQC who post a procurement benchmark metric each quarter, such as Cycle Time in Hours to Place a PO.

Other regular bloggers and content partners we don’t want to miss acknowledging include George Krauter (who blogs on MRO and reliable plant maintenance the first of every month like clockwork!), Tom DePaoli, Lynn Larson (on purchasing cards and other payment tools and was able to respond to a question with a informative blog in really short order) and Tim Cummins (on negotiation and contract management). There’s also The Hackett Group, Vantage Partners, Beroe, The Smart Cube, IBISWorld and GEP, among other partners who contribute regularly.

The Institute for Supply Management affiliates and groups whose websites are hosted at My Purchasing Center continue to be valued partners as well.

We want to recognize Frank Musero and his team at ProcureCon for continuing to collaborate with My Purchasing Center on the EPIC Awards. We announced the 2015 EPIC recipients at ProcureCon Indirect East in February, and plan to present the 2016 EPIC Awards on February 23 at ProcureCon Indirect
East in Orlando. Join us!

My Purchasing Center Editorial Advisory Board members serve on the prestigious judging panel that selects recipients for the awards. Thank you for your time and continued support of My Purchasing Center.

If we missed anyone who contributes to My Purchasing Center, it’s not intentional. We greatly appreciate it.

Finally, a big thank you to our advertisers who make our site possible by sponsoring webcasts, white papers and newsletters–and the procurement and supply management professionals who visit My Purchasing Center to read articles and blogs, download white papers, view videos, listen to podcasts, participate in webcasts, shop the bookstore and follow us on social media–especially on Twitter and in our LinkedIn group.

The My Purchasing Center team is busy planning for the new year, and we want to hear from you. Let us know what you think and what you want to see at My Purchasing Center in 2016. To do so, please respond to this blog or contact us by email at savery@mediasolvegroup.com.