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Management Entry Route

How do I qualify? - to use MCIPS after my name

The Management Entry Route (MER) is designed for purchasing professionals who are already operating in a senior role within procurement or supply chain management (SCM), who have extensive on-the-job experience. You may have reached your current role, for instance, through working in Financial Management or General Management followed by a career move within your organisation or industry.

Contact us on the following email address for more details: mer@cips.org

We need to assess your experience and competencies to ensure that you fulfil the criteria to award full membership which allows you to use the designatory letters MCIPS. You will be assessed for your experience, knowledge, and responsibility through an online questionnaire and a telephone interview.

It is a robust, rigorous and transparent process designed for senior professionals in upper management roles, usually with at least five years’ experience at a strategic level.

Is the Management Entry Route for me?

We assess applications against all of these competencies:

 

commercial targets finance for procurement
improving stakeholders delivery supply chain analysis
purpose and direction communication
working with others assessing / developing people
supply base analysis building winning teams
risk management project planning and budgeting
negotiation skills project implementation and control
customer / client management business acumen
contract management problem solving and analysis
contract selection and legal procurement process management

How to access the Management Entry Route

To access the Management Entry Route, you must first join CIPS as an Affiliate member and submit your MER application along with a copy of your CV and your current job description, organisation chart and line manager’s supporting letter to determine if this is an appropriate route for you to follow.

Assuming this is the case, you must then pay the assessment fee and complete an online questionnaire that is designed to assess your technical and professional competencies and enables us to build an individual profile of your knowledge and experience against the standard for MCIPS. Your results will be benchmarked against data held from more than 9,000 procurement professionals.
Within one week of completing the questionnaire you will be offered a telephone interview date pre-booked at a convenient time to suit your busy schedule. It will take between 60 and 90 minutes and will further
explore your expertise. Its content is designed to measure your managerial and technical competencies against our benchmark of 20 areas (listed on page 5).
Within four weeks, you will receive detailed feedback on your assessment. You will be either:
awarded MCIPS
required to complete a development plan to fill knowledge gaps
or withdrawn from this route
If a plan has been identified as the appropriate way forward, there will be an additional fee payable which will be advised. The plan should take you as little as three months to complete.

Assuming this is the case, you must then pay the assessment fee and complete an online questionnaire that is designed to assess your technical and professional competencies and enables us to build an individual profile of your knowledge and experience against the standard for MCIPS. Your results will be benchmarked against data held from more than 9,000 procurement professionals.

Within one week of completing the questionnaire you will be offered a telephone interview date pre-booked at a convenient time to suit your busy schedule. It will take between 60 and 90 minutes and will further explore your expertise. Its content is designed to measure your managerial and technical competencies against our benchmark of 20 areas (listed on page 5 of the brochure). Wiithin four weeks, you will receive detailed feedback on your assessment. You will be either:

  • awarded MCIPS
  • required to complete a development plan to fill knowledge gaps
  • or withdrawn from this route

If a plan has been identified as the appropriate way forward, there will be an additional fee payable which will be advised. The plan should take you as little as three months to complete.

Download a copy of our Management Entry Route brochure