Mentorship Monday: Jose Schneider

Mentorship Monday:

We have some wonderful people here at Source One, a Corcentric Company, with valuable information to share. They have taken interesting paths to arrive where they are today, and they happen to love what they do. With this series we hope to connect with and inspire young professionals, hopefully leaving them with some gems that will help them as they embark on their own journeys.

Get To Know Our Team – Jose A. Schneider

First up is Senior Analyst, Jose A. Schneider. Schneider started his career in Chile and has moved to Philadelphia to continue his work with Source One, specializing in IT and Telecommunications. Schneider says, “[he] never saw procurement as an option in the beginning,” and admits that he, “got to procurement by accident.” He was a marketing major in college and started looking for positions in his field when he graduated and moved to South America. Schneider was phone screening for what he thought was a marketing position at a company he applied to, and it turned out to be for a job in procurement. This was his reaction:

“I was surprised when I realized it wasn’t what I applied for, but listening to the interviewer explain the job and how dynamic and diverse the procurement environment can be, grabbed my interest. I didn’t want to box myself off in one particular department of business, like marketing. Procurement offered an opportunity to look at a business holistically and I liked it.”

Reflecting on his experiences, he notes that as an 18-year-old deciding your major and what you want to do for the rest of your life, you’re not entirely sure. Schneider figured business school would likely open the most doors for him. Schneider’s creative thinking and lively personality drove the decision for marketing, specifically. While he went into his job search focusing on a particular field to secure a position he felt qualified for, he kept an open enough mind to consider an unforeseen opportunity.

“In this interview I had my mind fixed on marketing because of my major, but seeing how I can be involved in multiple areas of the business intrigued me.”

Schneider ended up taking the job and was thrilled to see how interlaced his position was within the various areas of the company. He started in indirect spend, and it proved to be a good window into seeing how the entire business was managed. The job involved him in areas from legal, finance, marketing, engineering, sales—you name it.  He also found that his personality that encouraged him to pursue a marketing degree also proved to be useful as a procurement professional.

“Looking at the different things you have to purchase for different departments pushes you to be more creative in your negotiation approach. It brings out a side of you that you may not have considered to be a necessary skill for procurement. If you can develop a rapport with people, procurement will come very naturally. The science aspect you can learn.”  

Taking a look at Schneider’s journey you’ll see that not every path is traditional, or even planned. You may find your passion by accident or you might have to make a detour from what you thought was the path for you to find what really makes you happy. Both Schneider and next week's subject, Leigh Merz, have that in common. Stay tuned for her story.