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Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

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.

Related: Buyers & Purchasing Agents, Farm Products Logisticians Procurement Clerks Purchasing Managers Wholesale & Retail Buyers

Industries: Manufacturing Wholesale/Commercial Sales Government

Summary
Details

Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets.
Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.
Maintain and review computerized or manual records of purchased items, costs, deliveries, product performance, and inventories.
Monitor shipments to ensure that goods come in on time, and resolve problems related to undelivered goods.
Interview vendors and visit suppliers' plants and distribution centers to examine and learn about products, services, and prices.
Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices.
Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.
Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.
Study sales records and inventory levels of current stock to develop strategic purchasing programs that facilitate employee access to supplies.
Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased.
Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives.
Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts.
Arrange the payment of duty and freight charges.
Review catalogs, industry periodicals, directories, trade journals, and Internet sites and consult with other department personnel to locate necessary goods and services.
Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes.
Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.
Attend meetings, trade shows, conferences, conventions, and seminars to network with people in other purchasing departments.
Review catalogs, industry periodicals, directories, trade journals, and Internet sites and consult with other department personnel to locate necessary goods and services.
Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets.
Maintain and review computerized or manual records of purchased items, costs, deliveries, product performance, and inventories.
Confer with staff, users, and vendors to discuss defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action.
Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services.

Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.

Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
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.
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.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
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.
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.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
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.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
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.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

81850/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

39.35/hr

Currently Employed

21,630

Yearly Projected Openings

2220

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Integrity
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Stress Tolerance
Analytical Thinking
Initiative

Desktop calculator
Desktop computers
Laser fax machine
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
Photocopiers
Scanners
Special purpose telephones
Tablet computers

Accounting software
Analytical or scientific software
Business intelligence and data analysis software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software
Data base reporting software
Data base user interface and query software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Enterprise system management software
Financial analysis software
Graphics or photo imaging software
Internet browser software
Inventory management software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Process mapping and design software
Project management software
Sales and marketing software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

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Knowledge

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES