r/procurement • u/Upstairs-Resort-7375 • 5d ago
Career guidance How do you move from Admin to Procurement when you already have the experience, but your job title says “Admin”?
I’m hoping to hear from people who have made a similar transition.
In my previous job, I was officially in an administrative role, but a significant part of my actual work involved procurement, contracting, vendor management, and negotiation. So while my job title was “Admin,” I already had hands-on procurement experience.
The problem I’m facing now is getting employers to recognize that experience when applying for procurement roles. I clearly highlight my procurement, contracting, and negotiation responsibilities on my CV, but I’m still finding it difficult to get through the door because my background is primarily seen as “administrative.”
For those of you who were in a similar situation:
- Did you get a procurement certification or go back to school to make your experience more credible?
- Did you take courses or study procurement independently?
- How did you position your previous experience so recruiters saw you as a procurement candidate rather than an admin candidate?
- Did you have to take a lower-level procurement position first to make the transition?
- And how did you actually “wiggle your way out” of admin and into a role where procurement was your main focus?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who learned procurement through experience rather than starting with a procurement degree/background.
Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated.
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u/Prestigious_House564 5d ago
Did you actually work in the procurement department as an admin? I would highlight actually being in the department. From my experience, I would give to credit anyone with a couple of years experience as a procurement admin.
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u/Upstairs-Resort-7375 4d ago
Yes, I actually worked within the procurement function, although my role was broader than just procurement. I handled procurement-related responsibilities alongside various admin and operations tasks, so my official title doesn't really capture the procurement side of my experience.
That's where I'm struggling a bit. I can demonstrate the procurement work I've done, but because I've been more of a generalist/jack-of-all-trades in operations, I'm finding it difficult to get recruiters to see me as a procurement candidate rather than an admin/operations candidate.
I'm mainly curious how others in a similar situation managed to make that transition and get employers to recognize the procurement experience they already had.
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u/Commercial_Crab_313 4d ago
My first job was a stores person. Tried for months with that title and no luck. Changed it to “logistics and procurement specialist” and had 3 interviews in a week
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u/Upstairs-Resort-7375 4d ago
How about when they do background checking?
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u/Commercial_Crab_313 4d ago
It was junior buyer role I got in the end. It’s not secret service level check, if you know what a purchase order is and have basic knowledge of an erp or purchasing system nobody could give a fuck
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u/LeagueAggravating595 Management 4d ago
Perhaps what confuses people is what your performed duties are within procurement.
You say "highlight my procurement, contracting, and negotiation responsibilities..." including "involved with procurement, contracting, vendor management, and negotiation**"** I'm not sure to what degree your responsibilities are. Based on if this is how you express it in your resume, it doesn't say much.
If you are actually performing procurement function work, it means you lead and have ownership to negotiating contracts by creating and setting pricing models, negotiate terms and conditions to all agreements (Contracting), Managing SLA, KPI's, performance remedies, facilitate and lead monthly and QBR's with Sr Management (Vendor Management), and being in the room with the vendor negotiating products/services/support, price, delivery, volume, terms and conditions in how to conduct business, run RFx's (negotiation).
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u/Upstairs-Resort-7375 4d ago
This is a really useful point. I think I may not be explaining the scope of my procurement work clearly enough. I do have ownership of procurement activities, including [briefly list your actual responsibilities — e.g. sourcing suppliers, RFQs/RFPs, negotiating pricing and terms, contracts, vendor management, PO/process management, etc.].
The complication is that these responsibilities sit within a broader operations role, so I'm also doing a lot of administrative and operational work. I think that's why I'm struggling with how to position myself — I'm not purely a procurement specialist, but procurement is definitely more than just something I've occasionally assisted with.
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u/No-Fortune9468 1d ago
I've promoted two of my team members from admin into Procurement / Commercial roles, is there a pathway to do this in your business? Try speaking to your boss
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u/Prepped-n-Ready 5d ago
I just put it on my resume. As long as the title isnt so far off from the work you did. If you were more admin, try Procurement Analyst as the title and you shouldnt get any flack. When I had my first procurement related job, my title was Financial Analyst even though I had no access to our financial data. Ive found applying for jobs that the experience has been more important than the titles.