SLA12596 - Trainee Procurement Officer

Job Description

An opportunity has arisen for a number of graduate Trainee Procurement Officer roles within the Procurement Service of South Lanarkshire Council.

The Procurement team is led by 2 Procurement Advisors, whose areas of responsibility consist of:

• Social Work, Education, Finance & Corporate and IT, and
• Housing & Technical, and Community & Enterprise.

The Procurement team handles the contract requirements of all Council goods, works and services, including construction, social care commissioning and IT contracts. The successful candidates could be placed in either team, dependent on their previous experience and background.

The Service aims to develop highly trained professionals capable of working proactively within a challenging and evolving public sector procurement environment. This is a “hands on” role, where you will be responsible for your own procurement projects, with support from your mentor and line manager, from day one.

You will be interacting with colleagues from across the Council, to understand their requirements, and guide them through an appropriate and compliant procurement process, with appropriate support in place.

Trainee Procurement Officers will be expected to undertake a course of study leading to the Level 4 Diploma (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply), which is anticipated to begin in September 2025, though employees with previous experience may undertake some modules from September 2024 or January 2025.

Successful candidates will commence work as Procurement Assistants Grade 2 Level 2.  They will be allocated a range of projects which will allow them to build their skills and competences, in line with the Procurement Skills Matrix and Scottish Government’s National Procurement Competency Framework, in order to progress from Grade 2 Level 2 to Grade 2 Level 4.

Once you have achieved CIPS Level 4 and Grade 2 Level 4, graduate trainees will be allocated more complex projects, which will allow them to demonstrate they have achieved the skillset of Procurement Officer, and the candidate will be promoted to Procurement Officer.

The preferred candidate will be subject to a Standard Disclosure provided by Disclosure Scotland prior to a formal offer of employment being made.

Please refer to http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/publications/for further information.

 

Requirements

The Successful candidates will have an honours degree, and will be able to demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm for developing a career in procurement. We would be particularly interested to receive applications from candidates with a 2:1 degree in supply chain, business, procurement or law, or those with procurement or purchasing experience.

Highly developed communication and analytical skills are required for this role, and some previous work experience in a commercial environment and / or administrative role is desirable, along with the ability to plan and organise a challenging workload.

Additional Information

Interview process

Interviews are anticipated to take place in person, at South Lanarkshire Council Headquarters (Almada Street, Hamilton) in April 2024.

Candidates invited to interview will be required to deliver a presentation on a topical area of Procurement. Candidates will be notified of the subject area of the presentation no less than 2 weeks before the interview and will be required to submit their presentation no less than 1 week before the interview.

Responsibilities

Applications online

Please note all correspondence will be sent to your email account.

South Lanarkshire Council are Equal Opportunities employer and encourage applications from all members of the community. As a user of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum behaviour requirements for the position.

South Lanarkshire Council is committed to providing support to members of the British Armed Forces, veterans and their families which is set out in the British Armed Forces Community Covenant. Veterans are guaranteed an interview where their previous employer was the armed forces and who meet the minimum requirements for the position.

The Individual

As an employee of South Lanarkshire Council you would also receive a wide range of benefits including:

• Enrolment in award winning local government pension scheme
• Up to 33 days annual leave
• Public holiday entitlement (up to 10 days)
• Occupational sick pay
• Family friendly policies - flexible working, including consideration of a condensed working week, e.g. 4 days, maternity/paternity leave, option to buy additional leave.
• Employee Discounts – including discounts at the cinema.
• Range of benefits to support you (Cycle to Work Scheme, Physiotherapy, Employee Assistance Program which offers practical and emotional support)