Careers > Purchasing Managers

Purchasing Managers

$131.35K Median Salary 6.3K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 6.2% Job Growth

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About This Career

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.

Reported Job Titles

Category Purchasing Manager, Commodity Manager, Materials Director, Materials Manager, Procurement Director, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Director, Purchasing Manager, Purchasing Supervisor, Strategic Sourcing Director

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Fluency of Ideas

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Written Comprehension

Information Ordering

Written Expression

Inductive Reasoning

Problem Sensitivity

Originality

Near Vision

Number Facility

Selective Attention

Category Flexibility

Mathematical Reasoning

Knowledge

Administration and Management

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Law and Government

Economics and Accounting

Computers and Electronics

Mathematics

Administrative

Personnel and Human Resources

Education and Training

Skills

Active Listening

Management of Personnel Resources

Speaking

Monitoring

Negotiation

Reading Comprehension

Social Perceptiveness

Time Management

Writing

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Judgment and Decision Making

Persuasion

Complex Problem Solving

Service Orientation

Systems Analysis

Instructing

Active Learning

Management of Financial Resources

Management of Material Resources

Mathematics

Systems Evaluation

Learning Strategies

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Presentation software

Procurement software

Data base user interface and query software

Electronic mail software

Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software

Project management software

Spreadsheet software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Word processing software

Financial analysis software

Business intelligence and data analysis software

Data base reporting software

Internet browser software

Calendar and scheduling software

Process mapping and design software

Point of sale POS software

Inventory management software

Tools

Desktop calculator

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.

Knowledge

Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Economics and Accounting: Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Personnel and Human Resources: Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Management of Material Resources: Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Procurement software: Purchasing software
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software: Production scheduling software
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology
Business intelligence and data analysis software: BrightEdge; Conductor Searchlight; IBM Digital Analytics; Searchmetrics Suite
Data base reporting software: SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Process mapping and design software: Microsoft Visio
Point of sale POS software: Smart card management software
Inventory management software: Assisi Software Assisi Inventory

Tools

Desktop calculator: 10-key calculators
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

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