From a History Major to a Procurement job by Grace Leonard

Going into procurement after studying for a degree in History and a master’s in Human Rights, is not necessarily the most obvious path. All of my colleagues studied some form of a business degree, which was daunting for me at first, but once I spoke to people in the profession, I realised there is ‘no one size fits all’ approach to starting a career in procurement.

My degrees have benefitted me in different ways, for example, the critical thinking skills I gained from my history degree enabled me to see the bigger picture, a skill vital to procurement. However, what has benefitted me most was my master’s degree, during which I became extremely passionate about the importance of environment, social & governance factors in business. Recent years have seen businesses face increasing pressure to be transparent across their business practices; they need to be able to fully answer traditionally difficult questions, such as: Are human rights fully protected throughout their supply chain? Are workers paid a living wage? What are their statistics on diversity? What is the company’s environmental impact?

As a consequence, there is an expectation for procurement professionals to fulfil their responsibility in ensuring the goods they purchase for an organisation come from an ethical supply chain. It is exciting to be able to take my knowledge from my degree and apply it in a business context. Eventually, I would like to be working in some form of sustainability in supply chains, and I am confident that Lifecycle is providing the right building blocks to take me there.