Do you have a 5-year plan for your career and how you want to see it progress?
Bilal, a Procure to Pay contractor with over 15 years’ experience, like us all, experienced a significant change to his working life during 2020. Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Bilal was a contractor, working with clients throughout Europe on projects ranging between 3 and 18 months.
Bilal thinks contracting is now a very challenging marketplace, so decided to “go back to the drawing board” to formulate a 5-year career plan to help determine his next steps. By evaluating what he wanted to do, Bilal was able to work out what he had to do next, in order to achieve his goals.
When searching for new contracting opportunities this year, a key challenge Bilal faced was realising that although he has 10 years’ experience in procurement systems, this experience alone was not enough in a very competitive job market. Advice from agencies helped Bilal realise that certification would help to truly distinguish his skills.
With this feedback in mind, Bilal decided to undertake a certification programme that would allow him to “keep on learning and keep on bettering [himself]”. Bilal selected IFOL’s Certified Procure to Pay Practitioner education programme to broaden his future job prospects.
With many years of experience behind him, Bilal acknowledges that undertaking a training programme requires confidence; but thinks continual development is crucial for anyone working in procurement and payables.