SUPPLY CHAIN MOVEMENT, No.40, Q1 2021
to integrate data scientists into their teams. Most leaders find that data scien- tists have tunnel vision; they view prob- lems from a data perspective but don’t think about how the world really works.” Nevertheless, Henkel has managed to integrate data scientists. Bales: “They are part of our digital team, which is con- stantly looking for new technologies and how they can be applied for Henkel. So we do have some data scientists, but not enough of them. The next step is to use data scientists for planning.” Bales agrees that the labour market is challenging. Because the demand for tal- ent outstrips the supply, there is a strong focus on developing existing employees, including in the area of digital compe- tencies. “We want to improve the digi- tal skills of all employees, regardless of their position or level. First we do a test to assess their current level of digitaliza- tion. The training programme is then tailored to this, mainly in the form of e-learning. In addition, we offer in-per- son training in Python, the most impor- tant programming language in data science. More and more people want to improve their data-science skills.”
New graduates 24
Companies who decide to bring in com- petencies from outside cannot simply rely on new graduates. The survey shows that only 13% of new employees straight out of university are well prepared for a position in the business world. Nev- ertheless, young professionals remain an important pool of talent, particularly
because of the shortage. Internships are an important tool in this context. Grundfos offers 20 to 30 internships every year which expose students to vari- ous roles over the course of six months. “After that, we aim to recruit them. After the internship, they often have func- tional knowledge about supply chain management, but there are still major challenges at an operational level. So we offer them support with that aspect, such as by assigning them to projects that give them a better understanding of what goes on in practice. That helps to retain them for our company. Talents who work on more strategic assign- ments without that connection to our operations are more likely to consider similar positions in other companies.”
New generation Now more than ever before, Van Hunnik JOB ROTATION
Philips is an advocate of supply chain professionals learning about other roles. One way is to do a training course for another discipline, but the company also offers shadowing opportunities. “It’s important that someone in procurement understands how people in R&D work. To be effective, you need to know what your colleagues are up against,” com- ments Van Hunnik. Ideally, some kind of job rotation should be possible between supply chain professionals and people in commercial roles, for example. “But that’s not as easy as we would like – and it’s especially difficult for commercial professionals to move into supply chain. One challenge is that supply chain is not yet seen as a stepping stone to a general manage- ment position, although that view is slowly changing both inside and outside Philips. The supply chain discipline is becoming ever-more important and is crucial in a future-proof, sustainable organization.”
is looking for supply chain high poten- tials who have just completed their stud- ies. “For a long time our selection strat- egy was mainly based on experience, but that doesn’t help to make our company future-proof. We need a new genera- tion of talents who have digital thinking in their veins. We want these digital high potentials to challenge our current approaches. We already have talented professionals with functional expertise, but diversity and inclusion coupled with new perspectives will propel us into the future faster.” Like Grundfos, Henkel makes extensive use of internships in its recruitment activities. An internship is an excel- lent way to see if there is a good fit. If there is, then the intern is offered a job. “In fact, that’s how I myself arrived at Henkel,” laughs Bales, who disagrees with Cecere’s findings that graduates
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