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Career Exploration

Purchasing Managers

Also called: Materials Manager, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Director, Purchasing Manager

What they do:

Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of buyers, purchasing officers, and related workers involved in purchasing materials, products, and services. Includes wholesale or retail trade merchandising managers and procurement managers.

On the job, you would:
  • Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
  • Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
  • Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.
On the job, you'll need:

Business

  • management
  • customer service

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Safety and Government

  • law and government

Engineering and Technology

  • computers and electronics

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others

Social

  • bringing people together to solve differences
  • understanding people's reactions

Resource Management

  • selecting and managing the best workers for a job
  • managing your time and the time of other people

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • come up with lots of ideas
  • use rules to solve problems

Math

  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide
  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem

Enterprising

People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business.

  • Integrity
  • Attention to Detail
  • Cooperation
  • Dependability
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Adaptability/Flexibility

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Oracle PeopleSoft

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

Procurement software

  • Purchasing software
  • SAP Ariba

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Average.

New job opportunities are likely in the future.

Median Annual Salary: $131,350

Education

Bachelor's degree or certificate after high school is usually needed.