Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product 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.
Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product is Also Know as
In different settings, Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product is titled as
- Buyer
- Procurement Official
- Procurement Specialist
- Purchasing Administrator
- Purchasing Agent
Education and Training of Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
- Bachelor in Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts
- Associate Degree Courses in Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts
- Masters Degree Courses in Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts
- Bachelor in Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, Gen
- Associate Degree Courses in Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, Gen
- Masters Degree Courses in Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, Gen
- Bachelor in General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketin
- Associate Degree Courses in General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketin
- Masters Degree Courses in General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketin
Training Required for Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product in different industries are
- Procurement Clerks
- Purchasing Managers
- Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products
- Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products
- Logistics Analysts
- Logisticians
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
- Supply Chain Managers
- Sales Managers
- Cost Estimators
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
- Order Clerks
- First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
- Industrial Production Managers
- Customs Brokers
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
- Financial and Investment Analysts
What Do Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product do?
- Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts.
- Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
- Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.
- Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices.
- Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.
- Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives.
- Monitor shipments to ensure that goods come in on time, and resolve problems related to undelivered goods.
- Confer with staff, users, and vendors to discuss defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action.
- Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes.
- Maintain and review computerized or manual records of purchased items, costs, deliveries, product performance, and inventories.
- Review catalogs, industry periodicals, directories, trade journals, and Internet sites and consult with other department personnel to locate necessary goods and services.
- Study sales records and inventory levels of current stock to develop strategic purchasing programs that facilitate employee access to supplies.
- Interview vendors and visit suppliers' plants and distribution centers to examine and learn about products, services, and prices.
- Arrange the payment of duty and freight charges.
- Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.
- Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased.
- Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets.
- Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services.
- Attend meetings, trade shows, conferences, conventions, and seminars to network with people in other purchasing departments.
Qualities of Good Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- 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.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
- 10-key calculators
- Desktop computers
- Laptop computers
- Laser facsimile machines
- Multi-line telephone systems
- Personal computers
- Personal digital assistants PDA
- Photocopying equipment
- Scanners
- Tablet computers
Technology Skills required for Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Product
- Accounting software
- Adobe Acrobat
- Apple AppleWorks
- Assured Software JPP
- Choice Job Cost
- Construction Management Software ProEst
- Corel QuattroPro
- Cost accounting software
- Cost estimating software
- CPR International GeneralCOST Estimator
- CPR Visual Estimator
- Database reporting software
- Database software
- Dexter + Cheney Spectrum Construction Software
- FileMaker Pro
- Financial analysis software
- Galorath SEER-SEM
- Google Ads
- Google Docs
- IBM Cognos Impromptu
- IBM Costimater
- IBM Lotus 1-2-3
- IBM Notes
- IBM Power Systems software
- Infor ERP SyteLine
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Inventory management systems
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Dynamics GP
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Project
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft Visio
- Microsoft Word
- MicroStrategy
- NetSuite ERP
- Oracle Database
- Oracle E-Business Suite Financials
- Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
- Oracle PeopleSoft
- Oracle PeopleSoft Financials
- Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
- QSM SLIM Suite
- Resources Calculations Incorporated SoftCost
- Sage 100 Contractor
- SAP Business Objects
- SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports
- SAP software
- SmugMug Flickr
- Softstar Costar COCOMO II
- Software AG enterprise software
- Web browser software
- WinEstimator WinEst
- Xactware Xactimate