Purchasing Manager's Job Profile
Purchasing managers look for high quality merchandise at low purchase costs for their employers. They evaluate supplies on the basis of quality, cost, reliability, availability, selection variety and service. They are responsible for examining commerce publications, catalogs and directories to find suitable suppliers. They decide whether they want to work with a particular company or not on the basis of its reputation.
The purchasing managers establish potential contacts with domestic as well as foreign suppliers while negotiating the lowest prices. They also administer the online purchasing system and acquire the material whenever required. The responsibility of checking inventory levels and sales records lies with these individuals too. They control the departmental budgets, place orders and check with delivery and shipments. Apart from all these responsibilities, purchasing managers analyze markets, assist in sale promotions, aid executives for deciding the nature of sales and work with advertisers for creating ads for the media, direct mails and newspapers. They even pay visits to the selling floors for ensuring appropriate display of goods.
Skills Required
The candidates looking for jobs as purchasing managers should have the ability to analyze data and make decisions on the basis of existing information. Planning skills are a pre requisite for this kind of job for allowing the professionals to prepare themselves for the special promotion events and peak sale seasons. Good negotiation skills work in the best interest of purchase managers as they are required to deal with suppliers on a regular basis. Experience like in all other fields is an added advantage because albeit allows the product manager to understand products better.
Academic Qualifications and Training
Potential purchasing managers usually begin their careers as trainees, or assistant or junior buyers. Wholesale and retail firms prefer candidates with a college degree in business or management along with familiarity with retail and wholesale industries. Formal training is needed on the basis of size of company you are applying to. Manufacturing companies ask for formal training and master's degree in economics, applied science, business and marketing. Advanced training and education is required for effective career development of these candidates. A lot of employers offer seminars and training classes for developing managerial skills and product knowledge among product managers.
Salary and Job Prospects
The median salary for a purchasing manager in the US is around $84,762 a year. Recently, there has been a growth of purchasing managers because of increased imports and development of new procurement plans. With these trends continuing, the need for purchasing managers is expected to increase subsequently as well.
If you have all the required skills and qualifications, you do not have to worry about finding employment as there would be ample opportunities available for purchasing managers, according to the latest statistics. A lot of vacancies will stem with people retiring and employees getting promoted to higher positions.
