Meet the education procurement team - Kirsty

Name: Kirsty Gledhill

Position: Procurement Projects Advisor

How long have you been working at YPO? Three and a half years

What do you like most about working at YPO?
I love what YPO stands for with regards to our values and the fact that we’re a not for profit organisation who gives back to our customers. Working at YPO provides lots of opportunities to progress, it’s flexible, and has a fantastic apprenticeship scheme which is where I started my YPO journey.

What are your main responsibilities in the education procurement team?
Within the education procurement team, my role of procurement projects advisor is to help and support our education customers through any procurement exercise. I provide one on one support and work with our customers to ensure they understand the service they’re looking to procure and the process of a further competition or direct award. I help customers build their further competition documents, which can include the further competition itself, specification, pricing schedule and more. I also manage further competitions on the e-tendering portal which includes supplier clarifications, obtaining supplier’s submissions and supporting the customer with completing the contract award letters.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
The most rewarding part of my job is definitely knowing that I’ve gone above and beyond to help all our customers and that each customer has achieved their overall procurement goals while also ensuring value for money.

Describe your role in three words: Exciting, challenging and rewarding.

How did you get involved in procurement?
I’ve been at YPO for three and half years now and my journey started as an apprentice in July 2017 in the customer service team. I secured my first permanent position at YPO within the furniture customer care team and then I quickly progressed into a role in the procurement services team as a further competition co-ordinator. Within that role I managed the further competition process for all customers and supported the category buyer in procurement processes for frameworks, primarily in the corporate and financial services category.

When the announcement was made for the new education procurement team and the opportunities that were available, I saw this as a new challenge and to be more involved in the customer’s procurement process whilst being able to use and expand my own knowledge specifically to the education market.

I’m really looking forward to getting our new team known more in the education sector and to see how we can develop and grow along with demands in the market, whilst working closely with our customers to understand their challenges and how we can help.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
All my spare time at the moment is spent renovating our new house which is lots of hard work but very exciting! In-between I like going for walks, spending time with our rescue cat Jessie and relaxing with binge watching soaps and Netflix.