Purchasing Manager Resume Sample
Contact Information
Name: Oliver D. Cushing
Address: 987 Victoria Way, Indianapolis, PA.
Phone: (742) 974 5345
Email: [email protected]
Current Job: Purchasing Manager; Beltway Foods, Indianapolis, PA
Objective Statement
Purchasing Manager with more than 5 years of experience working in the food processing industry is desirous of joining your company as its Senior Purchasing Manager. Over the years I have contributed to the profitability of Beltway Foods by keeping a tight rein on the quality of vendors, the materials delivered to the warehouse and using my excellent negotiation skills to keep prices from rising exponentially.
Strengths/Special Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
- Knowledgeable and experienced in Inventory Management software such as NetSuite and ZhenHub.
- Seasoned negotiator.
- Detailed approach to reviewing the company’s financials.
- Results oriented
Work Experience
Purchasing Manager; 2014 to Present
Beltway Foods; Indianapolis, PA
Responsibilities:
- Keep track of the inventory levels of the manufacturing plant.
- Review the requests for requisitions submitted by the plant’s clients.
- Assist the Plant Manager in preparing the production schedule for the clients.
- Prepare a quarterly forecast of requisitions for the plant’s suppliers and importers.
- Perform random quality assurance checks on all materials delivered to the plant.
- Prepare a requisition report for accounting and operations.
- Review the budget that is prepared by the Chief Finance Officer.
- Negotiate pricing, terms of payment, and delivery schedule with suppliers.
- Coordinate with vendors and creditors when resolving delivery issues and discrepancies.
Assistant Purchasing Manager; 2011 to 2014
Beltway Foods; Indianapolis, PA
Responsibilities
- Schedule meetings with the Operations Manager and Purchasing Manager of the plant’s various clients.
- Review and confirm the supply details of clients.
- Assist the inventory control team when performing month-end inventory counts.
- Prepare the inventory report.
- Receive raw materials that are delivered to the plant.
- Conduct thorough and dilligent quality assurance checks on the materials.
- Inform the representative of the supplier if there are questions on the quality of the materials that were delivered.
Education
College
Bachelor Degree in Economics
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indianapolis, PA
2005 to 2009
High School
Shortridge High School
Indianapolis, PA
2001 to 2005
How To Write A Good Purchasing Manager Resume
It’s not enough to just write a resume and send it to the company you are applying for. According to statistics, there are 250 applicants for every job ad. Stand out from the rest by writing a good Purchasing Manager resume.
Are You Certified? Emphasize It On Your Resume
Not all companies require the Purchasing Manager to be licensed or certified. However, if you are, a professional license or getting certified by a reputable organization will always be a big plus on your resume.
Which organizations offer certification programs for Purchasing Managers?
- Institute for Supply Management – Certified Professional in Supply Management
- American Purchasing Society – Certified Purchasing Professional
- American Inventory and Production Control Society – Certified Supply Chain Professional
Each certification has its own set of requirements. Working toward getting certified in your field will open up more opportunities for your career.
Use the Reverse-Chronological if You Have Experience
Typically, companies prefer Purchasing Manager candidates who have at least five years of experience in the position or something related as a Buyer or a Purchasing Agent.
If you have impressive tenure in the role of Purchasing, use the reverse-chronological format for your Purchasing Manager resume.
With the reverse-chronological format, you present information that involves time periods from the latest or most recent to the earliest. For example, the work experience and educational attainment sections of your resume.
The reverse-chronological format is preferred by recruiters because it is easier to follow and evaluate the present-day qualifications of the applicant.
The format of the reverse-chronological follows this structure:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement
- Strengths
- Work Experience
- Education
- Certifications
You can also use the following format:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement
- Certifications
- Strengths
- Work Experience
- Education
Keep the Resume Well-Organized
Recruiters are looking for Purchasing Managers who are well-organized in their conduct of work. As a Purchasing Manager, you will manage different types of documents that pertain to the acquisition of supplies and other materials.
Purchasing follows a specific set of procedures that involve an assortment of documents from Requests for Requisition, Inspection Reports, invoices, delivery receipts, and official receipts to name a few.
Miss one – and you might get into trouble with Accounting!
The resume will show the recruiter if you are organized or not. How your resume “looks” without the recruiter having to go through its content will determine whether you have this important soft skill or not.
How do you keep your Purchasing Manager resume organized?
- Summarize its key details in bulletpoint format
- Use “Justified” or “Left Aligned” setting
- Give each statement or piece of information enough spacing from one another.
- Keep your sentences and paragraphs short but concise.
- Use the correct headings and give them proper emphasis by using bold face and/or increasing the size of the font
Communicate Clearly
You want to impress the recruiter – not confuse him. Write your descriptions in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.
By all means, you can include the forms and software programs that you used but describe them in layman’s terms.
The recruiter’s involved in Human Resources. His competence lies in recruiting, evaluating, selecting, and hiring talent – not purchasing.
Purchasing Manager Skills List
A Purchasing Manager wears many hats. You should know which one to wear when dealing with the various people within your organization and the industry. What abilities should be seen in your Purchasing Manager skills list?
Education and Training
Human Resources personnel prefer applicants who have the appropriate degree or at least have undergone training that is relevant to the job of a Purchasing Manager.
Business-related degrees such as Economics, Accounting, and Management are standard requirements. If your college degree is not related to business, you can leverage Purchasing-specific training that you have acquired through previous employment or specialized courses.
Business Acumen
To have a better understanding of your duties and responsibilities, you should have exceptional business acumen.
The work of a Purchasing Manager is integral to the company’s goal of staying profitable.
For example, in the event that sales are declining, an effective Purchasing Manager will analyze the company’s business performance.
Are sales declining because the quality of the product has deteriorated? Are prices no longer competitive? Does the company need to introduce variants or new products to the market?
The answers to these questions will guide the Purchasing Manager on how to revise the current process and qualifying guidelines. His objective is to help the company stay profitable while finding ways to improve sales.
The Ability to Negotiate Win-Win Arrangements
The Purchasing Manager negotiates the best deals with suppliers. He makes sure the cost of materials will not affect the company’s profit margin.
In some cases, if the supplier cannot bring prices down, he will offer lower quality alternatives. Thus, the Purchasing Manager does a high wire act – bring the cost down without affecting the quality of the merchandise.
He may have to pull a bluff, “Okay, we understand. Thank you for your time.” The lack of desire for the pursuit may trigger desperation from the supplier and push him to lower the price.
But a good Purchasing Manager works from a win-win perspective. He also wants the supplier to be profitable. Otherwise, the arrangement may not be sustainable.
Organizational Skills
As mentioned in the previous section, the act of purchasing follows a process. You will handle a variety of documents and go through the procedures of making a request and confirming the status of the materials.
Then, you have to maintain a list of suppliers, vendors, and other third-party creditors. If one supplier is out of stock, you should have alternative suppliers on stand-by.
With such a juggling act, you have to organize your tasks and get everything in order.
Source, Qualify, and Select Suppliers
Sourcing, qualifying, and selecting suppliers is a never-ending task for Purchasing Managers.
You cannot be stuck with only 1 or 2 suppliers. The more vendors you have, the more protected the company. You will have a stronger negotiating position if you have more than 1 supplier to deal with.
For this reason, Purchasing Managers frequently attend networking events such as trade shows, conferences, and seminars.
Thus, having great communication skills are a must for Purchasing Managers. You should be able to articulate your needs while listening to the pitch of the supplier.
Creditor Relationship Management Skills
When times are tough, you may have to bank on your supplier or chain of vendors to get you through the rough patches of business.
This is especially true if the company’s arrears are increasing. You will have to negotiate friendlier payment arrangements.
That is why you negotiate from a win-win perspective. If the supplier knows you respect his company’s interest, he will support yours when the time comes.
Decision-Making Ability
A company will depend on you to provide it with the best materials in the market. After you have reviewed the company’s business performance or current status, you should be ready to make the tough decisions.
Of course, you have to present your decisions and justify them to higher management before finalize the arrangement with the supplier. But quick and firm decision-making ability is important because in business, time is money.
Ability to Work with a Team
As the Purchasing Manager, you will routinely collaborate with different people in the organization.
Among these people include:
- Operations Manager
- Accounting
- Inventory Manager
- Stockmen
- Quality Assurance Officer
You should have the ability to factor-in all of their concerns and interests before making decisions. If some of their positions run contrary to yours, negotiate don’t argue with them.
Just like any great team, there will always be conflicts. Be ready and willing to reconcile differing opinions.
Purchasing Manager Duties And Responsibilities For The Work Experience Section
“How well do you know the job of a Purchasing Manager?”
Trust us, the Human Resources officer reading your resume will want to know that right away. If your work experience section cannot convince the HRO that you do, you may not get the invitation for the job interview.
A good Work Experience section will come down to how you describe and present your duties and responsibilities.
If you’re not sure what to do, here are some tips to help you create one that will get the recruiter interested.
Clearly Differentiate the Duties and Responsibilities
The Purchasing Manager’s day can be very busy. A lot goes into the role than just buying supplies then paying for them.
What are some of the duties and responsibilities of a Purchasing Manager?
- Review product costing
- Review business performance
- Source suppliers
- Qualify suppliers
- Schedule delivery of materials
- Inspect quality of supplies and other materials
- Keep track of inventory
- Prepare requisition report
- Negotiate with suppliers
- Coordinate with accounting and operations
- Work toward staying within the budget and maintain profit margin
- Manage all documents related to the acquisition of products
- Build a database of suppliers
- Negotiate the best payment terms
- Work with suppliers to assure the company of supplies during unforeseen events
In your Purchasing Manager resume, differentiate the duties and responsibilities that you handled. Make it clear to the person reviewing your resume that you know all the areas of responsibility in Purchasing.
Present Them in Order
An effective approach to convincing the recruiter of your abilities is to present your duties and responsibilities in the order you perform them.
Given the list of responsibilities presented above, you can present them in this order:
- Source suppliers
- Build a database of suppliers
- Review inventory
- Coordinate with accounting and operations
- Prepare request for requisitions
- Schedule delivery of supplies
- Receive the items and inspect the quality
By presenting your duties and responsibilities in order, the recruiter will have a better idea on how your day as a Purchasing Manager looks like.
What Were Your Accomplishments?
How did you perform as a Purchasing Manager?
- Were you able to streamline costs without affecting the quality of the products?
- Were you able to to improve profit margins?
- Were you able to improve cash flow?
- Did you successfully manage the inventory levels?
If you were able to contribute to the success of the company as its Purchasing Manager, include these accomplishments in your resume but make sure to validate them with numbers.
Share Some Interesting Stories
Break the monotony of a dry, boring Work Experience section by sharing some interesting – perhaps even exciting stories – from your time as a Purchasing Manager.
For example, the workers of the main supplier went on strike. Thus, the production of your materials were suspended and you were running out of stock.
What did you do? How did you resolve the situation?
One or two examples would be enough to prove to the recruiter that you have problem-solving skills and are creative in finding solutions.
Entry-Level Purchasing Manager Resume
Make no mistake about it, recruiters will prefer candidates with experience over others who don’t. However, all is not lost when you have an entry-level Purchasing Manager resume.
- Reference Similar Duties and Responsibilities – Were you tasked to qualify, select, and purchase suppliers by your previous employer? Even if your title was not “Buyer”, “Purchasing Agent” or “Purchasing Manager”, this task qualifies as experience.
- Present Proof of Other Skills – Did you negotiate contracts with sellers? A realtor does this type of work and his job is not that of a Purchasing Manager.
Other relevant skills include ability to do business analysis, high degree of workplace organization, and knowledge about relevant software programs.
- Go For an Assistant Purchasing Manager Position – Some companies may require an assistant for the Purchasing Manager. Go for it and use the time to build your work experience and learn new skills.
- Use the Functional Format – Unlike the reverse-chronological format, the functional format shifts the focus of the resume toward your skills and qualifications. If you took courses that awarded certifications, you may want to place the information ahead of the work experience section.
