Purchasing Agent Question:

☛ What do you know about marketplace trends for this industry? What direction do you think the market is going for this industry? (The industry refers to the client’s industry.)
☛ How do you predict shifts in market trends? How successful are your predictions?
☛ How experienced are you at writing profit and loss reports?
☛ What cost savings did you achieve at your last position? How did you reduce costs?
☛ What part of this career stresses you the most?
☛ Describe your negotiation skills and tactics.
☛ How do you negotiate with a difficult supplier?
☛ How do you work with a supplier who is unwilling to negotiate?
☛ Tell me about a negotiation that went poorly? What went wrong? What would you do differently?
☛ Tell me about your most successful negotiation.
☛ How do you go about researching new vendors?
☛ Walk me through your typical sourcing strategy.
☛ What factors do you consider when making a purchasing decision? (This might include loyalty to a vendor, location, price, quality of the products, etc.)
☛ Do you belong to any professional organizations?
☛ What do you do for continued professional development in this industry?