Meet the education procurement team - Zain

Name: Zain Malik

Position: Procurement Project Support

How long have you been working at YPO?
I’ve been working at YPO just over four years now. I joined through the apprenticeship scheme and have never looked back! I studied Business Administration as part of my apprenticeship whilst working at YPO and I’m currently studying for my Charted Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) qualification alongside my current full-time role in the education procurement team.

What do you like most about working at YPO?
YPO is a productive and fun place to work. I enjoy coming to work as every day is different and not having to do the same job repeatedly keeps things interesting. I also love the people I work with, I really feel part of the YPO family.

What are your main responsibilities in the education procurement team?
As procurement project support, I work alongside the YPO sales team to raise awareness and promote our frameworks to education customers. I also manage the sales pipeline of customer enquiries around our contracts for schools offering, keeping an up to date status report of the key gateway points each customer is at on their current and upcoming procurement projects.

I also support operational procurement activity such as CRM system updates, administration to support tendering, procurement template guidance, and proof reading of marketing collateral and other documents. 

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I enjoy guiding and supporting our customers, making the process of purchasing easy for them. It’s rewarding to see them happy when we achieve savings for them as they often have such limited budgets. It’s nice to know I’ve helped them with that. Collaboration is key and everyone in the education procurement team shares the same vision and is dedicated to achieving that for our customers. I also love that I have a great degree of control and freedom within my job where I can deliver positive outcomes and have a good work-life balance.

Describe your role in three words: 
Challenging, exciting, supportive

How did you get involved in procurement?
My career at YPO started in the business change team as an apprentice, working with the project managers and business analyst. I managed small internal projects and assisted the team with administrative duties. I then got my first permanent job as a customer service advisor which I really enjoyed as I got to help customers and go the extra mile to put a smile on someone’s face.

I worked extremely hard gaining the relevant skills, knowledge, and experience, and I eventually earned a position in the furniture team as procurement assistant; the rest has been a progression from there and has led me to my current role in the new education procurement team.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time I’m mostly with my family as I have a little boy (Haadi) and we try to spend time outdoors exploring all the beautiful parks in Yorkshire. I also take time out for my friends and we meet up for food every fortnight (when we can!)