Faced with a bleak employment market and the desire to simply hang on to their current job (or find another one quickly), many people put “career development” on the back burner. But at a time when many employers are seeking to trim down their rolls to the most skilled, dedicated employees, it can pay to increase the value you add and show that you have long-term career advancement aspirations.

It’s with that sentiment in mind that I am pleased to announce that SupplyExcellence is sponsoring the Seven Habits of Highly Effective CPOs seminar series. At the events, Larry Welch, the former CPO of HP, will share his best practices approach to becoming a highly effective CPO. Larry will provide a detailed account of his career journey as well as the best ways to address common job pains along the way. He will also discuss why he thinks the role of CPO is especially important in today’s economic climate.

There will also be a roundtable featuring Larry and Charles Dominick of Next Level Purchasing. Their interactive, candid discussion on procurement careers, skills and strategies for advancement is followed by a wine tasting led by a master sommelier.

The details are:

• Chicago on February 26, 2009 @ Just Grapes from 3:30 til 6:00pm
• San Francisco on March 4, 2009 @ Viognier from 3:30 til 6:00pm
• Registration for either event is here

As my colleague Pat Furey recently noted, it’s a good time to be in procurement. So increasing your profile by adding value in the form of total-cost savings may help you emerge from the recession on an upwardly mobile career trajectory…in which case, those new found wine selecting skills may come in handy as you toast to your new title.

And although the employment numbers overall look bad, there are a surprising number of high quality jobs in sourcing and procurement that are posted on the discussion section of the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement group on LinkedIn (as well as many other groups in our industry). If you’re actively looking or just want to reassure yourself that your skills are valued in the marketplace, I would highly recommend joining the group. A sample of this week’s job postings include an interim head of purchasing in a division of NHS, a director of global sourcing and a VP of global procurement for an apparel company.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.