Careers > Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

$67.62K Median Salary 23.8K Job Openings (Annual Projection) -5.6% Job Growth

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About This Career

Purchase machinery, equipment, tools, parts, supplies, or services necessary for the operation of an establishment. Purchase raw or semifinished materials for manufacturing. May negotiate contracts.

Reported Job Titles

Buyer, Procurement Official, Procurement Specialist, Purchasing Administrator, Purchasing Agent

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Written Comprehension

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Written Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Information Ordering

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Near Vision

Category Flexibility

Mathematical Reasoning

Number Facility

Fluency of Ideas

Originality

Knowledge

English Language

Administration and Management

Customer and Personal Service

Mathematics

Economics and Accounting

Law and Government

Production and Processing

Administrative

Computers and Electronics

Transportation

Skills

Negotiation

Reading Comprehension

Active Listening

Complex Problem Solving

Speaking

Active Learning

Critical Thinking

Judgment and Decision Making

Management of Financial Resources

Monitoring

Persuasion

Writing

Social Perceptiveness

Time Management

Instructing

Management of Material Resources

Management of Personnel Resources

Service Orientation

Coordination

Learning Strategies

Systems Evaluation

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Word processing software

Data base user interface and query software

Financial analysis software

Spreadsheet software

Accounting software

Analytical or scientific software

Project management software

Data base reporting software

Electronic mail software

Business intelligence and data analysis software

Enterprise system management software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Document management software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Sales and marketing software

Internet browser software

Presentation software

Inventory management software

Process mapping and design software

Tools

Photocopiers

Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers

Notebook computers

Desktop computers

Special purpose telephones

Laser fax machine

Scanners

Desktop calculator

Personal computers

Tablet computers

Abilities

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
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.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
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).
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.
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.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
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.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
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).
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.

Knowledge

English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
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.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Economics and Accounting: Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
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.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Transportation: Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Skills

Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
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.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
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.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
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.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Management of Material Resources: Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
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.

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Accounting software: Billing software; Bookkeeping software; Intuit QuickBooks; Sage 50 Accounting
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Data base reporting software: SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Business intelligence and data analysis software: BrightEdge; Conductor Searchlight; IBM Digital Analytics; Searchmetrics Suite
Enterprise system management software: IBM Power Systems software
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Document management software: Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat; Filing system software; Records management software; Transcription system software
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Sales and marketing software: Google Ads; HubSpot software; Marketo Marketing Automation
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Inventory management software: Assisi Software Assisi Inventory
Process mapping and design software: Microsoft Visio

Tools

Photocopiers: Photocopying equipment
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers: Personal digital assistants PDA
Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Desktop computers:
Special purpose telephones: Multi-line telephone systems
Laser fax machine: Laser facsimile machines
Scanners: Data input scanners
Desktop calculator: 10-key calculators
Personal computers:
Tablet computers:

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