Crossing to "the Other Side of the Desk"

After 24 years in procurement, Gene Hudak, C.P.M., is now spending his days, as he puts it, "on the other side of the desk." Hudak, who rose up the purchasing ranks at TRW before  having his job eliminated during a restructuring last year, recently joined a contract staffing provider and finds himself talking with the voice of a supplier rather than that of a buyer these days.

Hudak is not alone in making a career change in these turbulent times, according to a recent study by DBM, a human resource consulting and outplacement firm.

In fact, the DBM survey of 14,000 people from 35 countries revealed that 74 percent of U.S. professionals who find themselves out of work are changing industries or functions. Another 16 percent are starting their own businesses.

"Securing employment after a layoff or downsizing today requires a new approach," says Ramona Graffeo, an account executive of DBM, formerly known as Drake Beam Morin. "Successful candidates are repackaging their knowledge and skills and are transferring them to new jobs and new industries, or even using them to become entrepreneurs."

Facing an increasingly competitive employment environment, many individuals in transition are seeking opportunities outside their previous industry or functional area. The global findings of the DBM study show that during 2001, over 44 percent of people changed function and 72 percent transferred into different industries, compared to 49 percent changing function and 74 percent changing industries in the United States.

"In today's competitive employment market, individuals need to explore opportunities in industries and functions outside of their direct experience," says Graffeo. "Simultaneously, organizations are hungering for new ideas and perspectives, perhaps explaining why so many of our program participants successfully secured positions outside their previous industry or functional area."

A Career in Procurement

Gene Hudak's experience provides a useful case study in this type of personal repositioning.

Hudak had joined TRW in 1977 as a purchasing stores coordinator, expediting orders and working on the shop floor doing replenishment and ensuring proper inventory levels. He progressed to a buyer position and spent five years in that role at TRW's aircraft components division.

In 1984, when TRW opened its new World Headquarters in Cleveland, the company promoted Hudak to manage the headquarters' purchasing operation. "It was a huge opportunitiy," recalls Hudak. "The chance to start a purchasing operation from scratch."

The purchasing manager position at the head office opened up new opportunities for Hudak, who went on to head up the corporate agreement program for TRW. He remained in that position for about 10 years before joining the company's Project ELITE initiative (Earnings Leadership In Tomorrow's Environment), a multiyear automotive program TRW began in 1995 with a goal of improving operations, reducing costs and speeding time to market. Hudak headed up the supplier management portion of that project, leading commodity teams in the search for savings and quality improvements and finding ways to work more efficiently with the company's suppliers.

Project ELITE led Hudak into a regional purchasing manager role, which lasted through 2000. Then TRW began a restructuring initiative, moving from centralized purchasing of indirect goods toward more of a decentralized approach, with the attendant changes in the company's purchasing infrastructure. Hudak remained at TRW's headquarters as manager of purchasing through the rest of 2000 and into the next year, before finally having his job eliminated late in 2001. October 31 was his last day.

Looking Outside the Purchasing Box