Dóri's story | Careers

Rejoining bp after 3 years, Dóri works as a Senior Sourcing Specialist in maintenance category. Besides the online onboarding process, Dóri says returning bp feels like she'd never left.

Dóri just rejoined bp after 3 years. She left bp when her fixed-term contract expired, but she was always looking for a route back. And she found it.

Her first employment started in 2016, during her university studies. Majoring in Dutch language, she wanted a part-time job, that was flexible. She saw bp’s job advertisement online, requiring mainly Dutch knowledge. People who spoke the language were welcomed to join, so she applied as a Dutch-speaking Procurement Coordinator and become part of our team.

I was introduced to the field of procurement by bp and I haven’t looked back since. I found a career that truly fits me.

Finding her way back to bp

After her contract terminated, she went on and experienced different companies and their cultures, while gaining more experience in the field of sourcing and procurement. Her responsibilities included acquiring raw materials, operational procurement as well as capital procurement projects. She was doing contracting, negotiating with suppliers, and tendering.

At my latest workplace, I could not find the next step for my career. Then an old friend from bp reached out to me about an open position at bp. They were recruiting a senior sourcing specialist – I thought it was the perfect opportunity, as it was a Dutch-speaking position and I wanted to capitalize on my knowledge of this language as well as the experiences I gained in the field of procurement.

Dóri says, returning to bp felt like she’d never left. However, being a new joiner during these special circumstances has its
challenges. Due to the current restrictions, new colleagues cannot meet their whole team personally and they go through the entire onboarding process online.

I was lucky because I have many previous colleagues and friends, who still work here. The company makes a huge effort as well, to ease the anxiety of the virtual induction process. New joiners should not be nervous, because bp still makes sure to provide everybody a warm welcome and help their integration into the bp family.

A good sourcing professional needs to ask questions

Right now, Dóri is in the middle of the learning process of becoming a Senior sourcing specialist in the maintenance service category. Working from her home in Budapest, she supports a bp refinery in Rotterdam.

I am responsible for the procurement of maintenance-related products or services that the site needs. This means acquiring a scaffolding that needs to be set up somewhere, or a crane, or basically any related service. Within that, my main categories are waste management and industrial cleaning. I deal with the existing contracts between the refinery and suppliers.

She usually goes through the agreements and investigates if the product or service is still needed and whether the users are satisfied with it. If the contract needs modification Dóri will be the one to negotiate with the sales colleagues of the provider company. During this process, she is in constant contact with a category specialist, who acts as a middleman between the sourcer and the stakeholders.

Dóri says that her favourite part of being a sourcer is the psychology behind negotiating.

In order to be a good Sourcing Professional, you have to dare to ask questions. For a successful negotiation process, you need a lot of information. It is important to have a great relationship with the business so you understand their needs. You should also get to know the other negotiating party quickly, realize how far can you go, and what are the points you can grab onto.

She also highlighted how bp handles the professional side of things.

The procurement processes at bp are divided into smaller activities. Since I do a smaller portion of the whole process, my responsibility is focused on one area. It is easier to track what I need to do which gives me a sense of comfort and urges me to always do better.

A cool and flexible company

Dóri pointed out, that the flexibility of bp is superior, which she could experience during her university studies.

Besides the flexibility of the company, I also admire the friendly atmosphere, where everybody helps one another. There is no strictness, but the work gets done regardless. It is truly a very cool company.

Apart from a great direction for her career, Dóri also found love at bp.

I met my fiancé at bp. He was a colleague of mine in procurement, during my first employment. We have been together since then and we are getting married next year.

If you would like to join bp as well, take a look at our open positions here and apply to the one that suits you the best!