Yolanda Rivero is a Procurement professional specializing in Digital Transformation. She has been with PepsiCo, a multi-national food and beverage corporation, for over 21 years, where she has led the global implementation of digital procurement tools, enhancing spend visibility and strategic sourcing. 

What was the best or worst interview experience you've ever had?

Luckily, I haven’t had many bad experiences. In cases where I was offered the position, what made them good interviews was the focus on my soft skills. They were truly bi-directional conversations with a real effort to understand each other.

I also felt very comfortable asking questions. It is always good to gain an understanding of what they need, and what they want. It's important to have an open conversation to understand the person, rather than focus only on the CV.

What sustainability challenges have you or your organization, including previous employers, faced?

In my opinion, sustainability presents many challenges. One of the most important examples would be fulfilling regulation and sustainability goals in a cost-saving environment. At some point, to find the right balance, you need to do a trade-off.

In many cases, achieving sustainability goals involves investment, either buying new machinery or doing things differently, which can easily go against your productivity objective. You need to understand exactly what to sacrifice to achieve your goals.

Another challenge is how you measure that. How can you prove that you’re achieving your sustainability goals in compliance with regulations? You need to have accurate data, and sustainability is relatively new, so there isn’t a lot of historical data to do this reliably.

I think the last challenge is the changes in globalization for corporate and international companies. Regulations differ, for instance; you have local, country, European, others in different continents, and market dealings, etc. They change very often, requiring you to continuously adjust your processes to maintain compliance.

In global organizations, it must be challenging to have a set strategy across the board, because regulations differ from continent to continent.

Exactly. The law today may change in five years, because they've realized that there's something new that they need to include, requiring you to adapt. It's also a constant adoption of tools and how you approach the achievement of your goals.

In your opinion, what are the most underrated skills or qualities in Procurement?

I think having diverse backgrounds and experiences is sometimes seen as an obstacle, rather than a strength. Of course, you need to know the job and perform in the role and within those functions. But, in Procurement, what makes it so rich is the exposure to many cross-functional teams; you collaborate with R&D, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Legal.

I believe it's very important to have people from different backgrounds and experiences to be able to understand others. That leads us to increasing the focus on certain skills and embracing diverse backgrounds, rather than having very specific Procurement experience.

The more you understand how something impacts others, the quicker you can solve the problem, because you can go beyond the surface. For example, when you have a supply issue and you have supply experience, you know how important it is to stop the production line or how difficult it is to change shifts or rearrange the production schedule.

You could think back on the best way to tackle the issue, allowing you to get others on board with your thinking, as you can empathize with the situation and thoroughly understand the impact of your decisions on other functions.  

If you were to think back to the best manager you've ever worked for, what did you like about their management style?

I've been extremely lucky and grateful to have very good managers throughout my career. For me, what makes them the best is having the ability to learn from them. That could be learning about the function, negotiations, communication, or other skills.

Additionally, it’s important to have the ability to mirror your manager and improve yourself. Those managers were able to challenge me constructively and gave me the motivation to go beyond my current capabilities. In all cases, they showed genuine interest in helping me grow and succeed.

Is that something you've taken forward when managing people?

Absolutely. If it’s something you’d like to receive, you should give it, too.

Also, as a manager, it’s important to adapt. Ultimately, you are dealing with people, so you need to understand the communication required for each person. I love to make my team grow and try to get the best out of them.

But maybe not everyone wants to grow, so it’s important to recognize that not everyone wants what you want for them. You must take the time to know your team and hear what they want.

In global organizations in Switzerland, you're often managing diverse teams of people based all over the world, or even in one office. So, there are certain skills that you need to have from a communication perspective.

Absolutely. We had a tool named Culture Wizard that helps you to understand cultural differences, for instance, how to approach negotiation in a different country.

I try to learn about others and how they interpret silence or other types of communication. Something in your country may seem very funny, but in others, it's not so funny. You need to understand your team’s cultural background and the differences and be able to address that, as well.

How can a jobseeker stand out in the current market?

It's complex. Nowadays, knowing how to stand out in any field becomes the search for the holy grail.

On LinkedIn, you can find endless tips and tricks everywhere. But, in my opinion, it can become overwhelming and have the opposite effect, because everybody - with their best intentions - explains how you should communicate, what you have to say or not say. In the end, you’re being told so many things.

I believe the most important thing is to identify what makes you unique, because everybody has their own story. You need to communicate yours effectively, and that requires preparation and confidence. That’s what makes you stand out in the current market, on top of having good knowledge of the job.

Something that is taken for granted is having a good attitude and self-confidence.

Are there any books or podcasts that you'd recommend to our network?

I always try to get a balance between learning more about Procurement, market innovation, and new market trends. But, as I said before, certain skills are important, like communication, emotional intelligence, and soft skills in general. 

I'd recommend the Art of Procurement podcast. Many of my Procurement colleagues have been interviewed on it, too. It’s very good if you want to follow what’s currently cooking in Procurement and who the key players are.

I also follow a German podcast, because it helps me keep my business German fresh, called Werte & Hebel, which is also focused on Procurement.

Lastly, a Spanish podcast named Hablas o impactas, hosted by a storytelling and public speaking professional named Aurora Michavila, which is great for learning how to do presentations, and improve your communication and business relationships.

Thank you to Yolanda for speaking to George Weemes, Associate Director in our Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment team in Switzerland.

Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment.