Purchasing Managers

Also Called:

Materials Manager,

Procurement Manager,

Purchasing Director,

Purchasing Manager

What they do: 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.

Business Management & Administration icon

Business Management & Administration

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
  • Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
  • Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business.

Self-Confidence

Leadership Orientation

Cautiousness

Integrity

Attention to Detail

Dependability

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Enterprising

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Conventional

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Social

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Communicate by speaking

  • Listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • Come up with lots of ideas

  • Use rules to solve problems

Math

  • Add, subtract, multiply, or divide

  • Choose the right type of math to solve a problem

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

  • Talking to others

Social

  • Bringing people together to solve differences

  • Understanding people's reactions

Resource Management

  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job

  • Managing your time and the time of other people

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Purchasing Managers jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop