What Will be Your Procurement Risk Management Strategy against New

Suppliers?

From your answer, the interviewer will judge your supply chain risk management skills
against new suppliers who can be unreliable.

Tip 1: Give a brief answer.

Tip 2: Explain the significance of risk management tools.

Sample Answer

“New suppliers always pose risks due to a lesser degree of reliability. However, certain
tools such as contracts, professional agreements, timely assessments, and having a
backup can be of significant help.”

Identifying, evaluating and selecting suppliers based on their capability to supply material
resources in compliance with organizational requirements

Can you detail a negotiation that you had that was unsuccessful? What did you
learn from it?

A: Instead of having the candidate detail a negotiation that succeeded, it

is better to ask about one where they were unsuccessful. This
demonstrates that not only is the procurement manager self-aware
enough to realize that they have made a mistake, but they are capable of
learning from it, too. If the candidate does not have an example, it might
be better to move on since they are not sufficiently self-critical. What to
look for in an answer:

 Flexibility in thinking to adjust approach

 Ability to admit that mistakes were made
 Self-awareness
What are Some Important Procurement Metrics?  
Here, the interviewer wants to know if you have an idea of key procurement metrics and
how you will use them. 

Tip 1: Explain the factors that performance metrics depend upon.

Tip 2: List down some standard procurement metrics.

Sample Answer

“Procurement metrics largely depend on the goals and objectives of the project as well
as the organizational preferences. However, some standard procurement metrics
include cost savings, return on investment, cost-benefit analysis, procurement cycle
time, percentage/frequency of on-time deliveries, the ratio of managed spend to total
spend, the ratio of cost savings to managed spend, etc.