I need out - Detroit area (automotive professionals)

I am reaching out to the hive on this one for possibilities, I am having a hard time switching careers/jobs. Recruiters are lazy and only want to get me into something I am already doing which I'm looking to stop doing essentially. Currently I am a sales account manager for a major tier 1 company and I want to get into purchasing/procurement/buyer - however lateral move would make sense as it is easier but our purchasing department (simply put) is berkeleyed in the head and their processes are more of a hindrance, especially because they don't work and I'm sick and tired of the corporate culture not to mention the organization is making very bad decisions that is impacting my customer to the point where they may kick us out of NAFTA entirely for the near future. My job is like selling sand to the desert, but my sand is expensive and we can't make it very well or on time, so I need an escape plan.

Ideally I would like to work with an OEM but given the current situation with Ford I don't see them hiring buyers any time soon, GM only seems to have internal openings, FCA is a solid maybe and the commute would be worthwhile for Nissan and Toyota is too far.

The problem is that every job wants prior experience, however not having a buyer position is at a disadvantage but to say that I don't have purchasing experience is laughable as I tend to do their job in this company as it is and being in sales you deal with the buyers every day.  So I need to get myself some decent purchasing experience and I am willing to take a paycut to be happier!

Brief summary of career:

3 years in current position as a sales account manager - tier auto 1

2.5 years in prior role as sales engineer - tier auto 1 supplier

2 years prior to that as customer service/warranty rep for trucking supplier

BS. business degree

BS. Psychology degree

AS. automotive service

So keep your eyes open for any purchasing jobs in your area (the closer to auburn hills/pontiac area the better) and we can talk further I'd be glad to send you my resume - besides you probably get a decent referral bonus or at least have another gearhead to talk to at work - for whatever reason nobody in the auto industry likes cars... strange.

also, I work with my girlfriend - need a new place of work.

#hailmary!

If you want to move to the other side of Lake Michigan we might find a spot for you.

smokindav said:

If you want to move to the other side of Lake Michigan we might find a spot for you.

I grew up in the Chicago area, not sure where I would park my trailer & cars there... but I appreciate the consideration.

Smokindav is in Wisconsin. Lake Geneva area. You'd find cheap land for your E36 M3. 

The only purchasing job where I work is a Sr. Buyer position.  Given that you're not already in the procurement space, I'd speculate and say it would be a hard position to land.  

In reply to mtn :

Just not anywhere near the lake. There’s a nice 30-acre plot for sale near here but I haven’t looked too see how much.

smokindav said:

In reply to mtn :

Just not anywhere near the lake. There’s a nice 30-acre plot for sale near here but I haven’t looked too see how much.

My dad just sold his 6 acres for $200k in Fontana. Less than a mile from the water. It gets affordable pretty quickly up there; just drive 15 minutes away from the lake. 

From what I recall you're in automotive lighting.  Have you approached any of your companies local competitors directly?  How about the Tier 2's (or lower) to get purchasing experience? 

Also, some of us in the Detroit area are car guys but you are right in that there are less than you would think.

mtn said:

Smokindav is in Wisconsin. Lake Geneva area. You'd find cheap land for your E36 M3. 

Lake Geneva is pretty sweet but its too suburban touristy.

sirrichardpumpaloaf said:

The only purchasing job where I work is a Sr. Buyer position.  Given that you're not already in the procurement space, I'd speculate and say it would be a hard position to land.  

Yeah I am noticing that too, a lot of the purchasing jobs available right now but require 3-5 years of direct experience.

That direct experience stuff is stupid. I hire for desire and brain power. If you have both you can do the job. I hired a lawyer to be a program manager because he has the brain power to figure it out. 

How is are you marketing yourself? And also why purchasing.  I find purchasing the most horrible form of firefighting possible. 

How would you feel about remaining in sales but changing industries?  My employer is hiring a sales guy in our Southfield office.  We provide software and services to Medicare Advantage health plans - I'm looking at the internal posting right now but give me a bit and I can find the external facing posting.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

That direct experience stuff is stupid. I hire for desire and brain power. If you have both you can do the job. I hired a lawyer to be a program manager because he has the brain power to figure it out. 

 

How is are you marketing yourself? And also why purchasing.  I find purchasing the most horrible form of firefighting possible. 

World needs more fbc in hiring roles. 

mtn said:

Fueled by Caffeine said:

That direct experience stuff is stupid. I hire for desire and brain power. If you have both you can do the job. I hired a lawyer to be a program manager because he has the brain power to figure it out. 

 

How is are you marketing yourself? And also why purchasing.  I find purchasing the most horrible form of firefighting possible. 

World needs more fbc in hiring roles. 

agree, and also think it is the best way to do it. easy to fake experience. not so easy to fake 'desire and brain power'.

In reply to Robbie :

Fueled by Caffeine said:

That direct experience stuff is stupid. I hire for desire and brain power. If you have both you can do the job. I hired a lawyer to be a program manager because he has the brain power to figure it out. 

 

How is are you marketing yourself? And also why purchasing.  I find purchasing the most horrible form of firefighting possible. 

I agree with this 100% but its hard to get past HR without flat out lying, just getting into the interview seems to be the hardest hurdle. I have updated my linkedin but I haven't been really marketing myself, right now I am utilizing my friend/colleague network to see whats out there. In parallel I am working with recruiters and applying for jobs on company sites/regular job boards. Applying for jobs feels like a waste of time as I tend to never get calls for when I apply its always about who you know.

I got a lot of guff about having a psychology degree but it is way more applicable if you don't just assume I was going to school to be a psychiatrist - these people don't realize that the education is based on analytics and data interpretation. It does have some good social aspects to that are key to working with people like organization, motivation, empathy etc which many business/management classes lack.

I want to go into purchasing because I would like to evaluate suppliers based on their performance, delivery and cost competitiveness to make a sourcing recommendation. Negotiations are fun but when your buyer has no technical aptitude it can be quite cumbersome. it seems to be very rare to see a buyer with any sort of technical ability and supply chain overall is pretty fascinating - especially in this global economy we have now. I would like to see what its like on the other side of the table.

Anyone can always go back to sales and maybe if I end up not liking purchasing I will move to program management as I like working cross functionally. Given my lighting background I am exposed to a variety of commodities and aspects of manufacturing. Stampings, castings, injection moldings, tooling, electronics, software, systems architecture, etc.

szeis4cookie said:

How would you feel about remaining in sales but changing industries?  My employer is hiring a sales guy in our Southfield office.  We provide software and services to Medicare Advantage health plans - I'm looking at the internal posting right now but give me a bit and I can find the external facing posting.

Maybe? I think having some non automotive experience would be beneficial because you never know when the next automotive fall of Detroit will happen again. I have only been looking for the past few weeks I've done used car sales and retail sales in my early career so something else entirely would be a nice change of pace.

Here's the external link: https://recruiting.adp.com/srccar/nghome.guid?c=1153951&d=External&r=5000316383906

szeis4cookie said:

Here's the external link: https://recruiting.adp.com/srccar/nghome.guid?c=1153951&d=External&r=5000316383906

Thanks for the offer but I think this is above my level of experience - I really hate anything that has to do with insurance.

In reply to fidelity101 :

don't eliminate yourself from the candidate pool. Jeeeez...  Most job descriptions are not representative of the actual work needed.  

So... I try to tell my mentee's about experiences.. what experiences do you have that woudl relate to these roles.. talk about experiences and what you bring to the table.. Want to chat more, shoot me a PM.

fidelity101 said:

In reply to Robbie :

Fueled by Caffeine said:

That direct experience stuff is stupid. I hire for desire and brain power. If you have both you can do the job. I hired a lawyer to be a program manager because he has the brain power to figure it out. 

 

How is are you marketing yourself? And also why purchasing.  I find purchasing the most horrible form of firefighting possible. 

I agree with this 100% but its hard to get past HR without flat out lying, just getting into the interview seems to be the hardest hurdle. I have updated my linkedin but I haven't been really marketing myself, right now I am utilizing my friend/colleague network to see whats out there. In parallel I am working with recruiters and applying for jobs on company sites/regular job boards. Applying for jobs feels like a waste of time as I tend to never get calls for when I apply its always about who you know.

I have spent more than 15 years working in HR departments. 

1. Getting around an initial HR screen can been done with a little effort by connecting directly to hiring managers through your friends and colleagues. You are already doing this. This will be the source of your best leads

2. 70% to 80% of hiring happens through referrals from friends and colleagues. If your resume gets handed to a hiring manager by a trusted colleague with a message that "You should talk to Fidility101, he knows his stuff", You are probably 800 times more likely to get called for an interview than having a perfect match resume. Many, if not most of the best opportunities never even get advertised.

3. Job Boards and online applications, at best, are the source for maybe 30% of hires for most companies. Yet, this seem to be where 80% of job seekers spent most their time and effort. 

4. FBC already mentioned this but it bears repeating, The description in a job ad may be different than what the hiring manager is looking for. One of the frustrations for recruiters is how inarticulate and/or lazy hiring mangers can be when it comes describing what they really need. The same description often gets reused over and over even if the most important criteria are buried at the end of the ad. 

I hope this helps