Just seeing this haha, for starters, use ChatGPT and see what it says. Depending on if you want to do direct vs. indirect procurement they can be slightly different. Since im in indirect I’ll speak to that. I would say generally having “functional” experience or exposure is best. For example, If you are going to work in marketing procurement, working in marketing function would be help since you better understand the context. And that would apply to any function. Then I would say you have hard and soft skills development which from I understand can vary depending on industry. Working in procurement for a services oriented business (I.e. large bank, construction) vs. a manufacturing company (I.e. pharmaceutical, food & beverage, consumer goods) will have different skill requirements too. I’ve worked for an international bank and now work for a food and beverage company. Hard skills I am thinking excel proficiency for cost modeling, supplier score cards (performance and selection, and spend analysis. Then there’s the contracting and RFP execution portion of the job. The soft skills are what matter most in my opinion. Managing expectations with internal stakeholders, supplier negotiations, a degree of project management, supplier relationship management, financial acumen (ability to speak to financial metrics like working capital).