Career Profile: Purchasing Manager

This week's career profile features the purchasing manager profession in the retail supply chain field. 

Job Description

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

Tasks

Purchasing managers are in charge of forming policies and contracts with suppliers on behalf of their firm. They oversee all of the buying, selling, material, equipment, machinery, and supply distribution activities of their department. They also interview, hire, and train new personnel for their department. Purchasing managers seek out the best suppliers to buy materials, equipment, and supplies from. They then communicate with the suppliers to get an accurate idea of the terms of the sale, product availability, and all essential details. Common duties include initiating and processing purchase orders and requests for both supplies and equipment. Making clear and accurate contracts with suppliers is an extremely important business matter. Purchasing managers are in charge of developing and implementing the instructions, policies, and procedures for purchasing and contract management. They keep organized, detailed records of all goods ordered and received. Participation in the development of product, equipment, and substitute material specifications is also part of their job. Constant analysis of the market and current delivery systems is an essential role they play in predicting and managing current and future availability of materials. Lastly, purchasing managers must mediate and resolve claims against employers and supplier complaints or dissatisfaction. Similar job titles include materials manager, director of purchasing, commodity manager, director of materials, director of strategic sourcing, procurement manager, procurement officer, purchasing director, and purchasing supervisor.

While their job description is chocked full of responsibilities, the tools a purchasing manager uses are relatively simple: a 10 key calculator, desktop, or laptop computer. However, the technology (software) used by a purchasing manager is a powerful resource that the job cannot do without. Database query, enterprise resource planning, procurement, project management, spreadsheet, and word processing software are all essential to purchasing management.

Purchasing managers must be knowledgeable in many fields including, but not limited to, economics, accounting, transportation, customer/personal service, human resources, law, government, mathematics, production/processing, administration, and management. 

Do you possess the skills and abilities needed in purchasing management? Which ones can you build or polish?

skills: 

• Coordinating your actions to those of others
• Active listening
• Critical thinking 
• Speaking
• Managing personnel 
• Negotiating
• Persuading
• Social perceptiveness
• Strong time management skills
• Decision making/judgment

abilities:

• Oral comprehension and expression
• Speech clarity and recognition
• Written expression
• Deductive reasoning (apply general rules to specific problems)
• Fluid ideas
• Written comprehension
• Problem recognition
• Information ordering

General work activities include resolving conflicts, communicating with external parties, communicating with supervisors, peers, and subordinates, forming and maintaining personal relationships/connections, gathering information, decision making, problem solving, efficient/frequent computer use, the monitor and control of resources, coordinating the work/activities of others, and directing and motivating subordinates.

Does the work styles of a purchasing manager fit with your personality?

• Integrity
• Dependability
• Self control
• Initiative
• Stress tolerance
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Analytic thinking
• Leadership
• Attention to detail
• Cooperation

The median wages for a purchasing manager are $47.51 hourly and $95,070 annually (2010 data). The employment figures were 70,000 employees in 2008 with little to no projected employment growth rate from 2008-2018. There are predicted to be 21,100 purchasing manager job openings between 2008-2018. The top industries for a purchasing manager include manufacturing and the management of companies and enterprises.

More information can be found from:

• Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
• The American Purchasing Society
• The Association for Operations Management
• The Institute for Supply Management
• National Institute of Governmental Purchasing

Information from this career profile was obtained from onetonline.org. Check back next week for a career profile related to Babson' College's favorite field: Entrepreneurship!